Allison
by Pure-Pen
Summary: [Chapter 16 UP!] Previously called Forgotten and the Chase (but those titles sucked) Someone from Ryan's past comes back and needs Ryan's help.
1. The Past at Your Doorstep

A/N: This is my first O.C. fan fiction so, be nice! I don't own any part of the OC, although I wish I did.  
  
"Dude! I beat you again!" Seth said falling back on the couch. Ryan rolled his eyes as Seth jumped up and turned off the video games. "It's no fun beating you over and over again." Ryan got up and stretched. He didn't mind being beaten on a stupid video game, mainly because he never had the chance to. He walked out toward the kitchen and opened the fridge. Amazing, he thought, full of food. The doorbell rang through the house and he heard Seth's walking toward the front door mumbling to himself who would be calling at this hour. Ryan checked his new watch the Cohen's had just bought him. 9:30 pm. It was pretty late. He looked outside and it was pouring rain. Lightening streaked the sky. He definitely didn't want to be outside right now.  
  
"It depends, who are you?" Ryan heard Seth ask. Ryan closed the fridge, he was seriously curious. The person at the door was fairly shorter than Seth; he couldn't tell much else, his or her face was covered by a hood.  
  
"Look." A familiar female voice filled his ears. "I have to see him! I know he's here!" Her hands reached up and pulled the hood off, revealing a pretty girl with short dark hair that was soaking wet, her eyes shimmered full of tears. She turned her face away revealing she had a black eye. She looked up. "Ryan!!" She screeched. She ran up to him and leaped into his arms. She was freezing, shivering and shaking.  
  
"Whoa!" Ryan said trying to regain his balance still hugging the girl tightly in his arms. He could barely believe she was here. Ryan looked at Seth who now was obviously wondering who this girl was. Sandy immerged from a room and made a face matching Seth's expression. She pulled away and brushed Ryan's sandy blonde hair out of his eyes. "I knew I would find you." She whispered staring into his eyes.  
  
"Ok, I hate to break up this little reunion," Seth said quickly walking up towards Ryan. "But, who are you? And how do you know my brother?" Sandy paced up nodding in agreement. Her eyes darted to Ryan who was grinning like crazy. "Your brother? You have to be kidding me." "Allison, I'm sorry, but they.they're my.you're still." Seth had never seen Ryan stutter so much in the entire time he had stayed with them. "Ry, spit it out!" Seth yelped wanting to know why he was such a problem with say whatever he was saying.  
  
"I'm his sister." She rolled her eyes at Seth. "He doesn't have any sisters." Sandy said a matter of factly. "Obviously he does." Her green eyes shifted to Sandy and her words dripped with anger. "Allison is my half sister." Ryan said grabbing onto Allison's arm. "Same dad." Ryan quickly added. By now, Kirsten had joined them all in the front hall, standing there shocked. "How about we go into the living room and talk?" She finally managed out. Kirsten and Sandy walked out first murmuring to each other. "Yea, it seems like we have a lot to talk about." Allison said barely audible. "Seems like someone has forgotten where he came from." 


	2. Reading their Faces

A/N: I own squat so don't sue. Besides I have no money. the only thing I own is Allison; which is worth squat too!  
  
Ryan looked around the room from face to face. They all told a story. He started with Seth, his best friend, the first person his age to accept him in Newport. He scowled and avoided his eyes. Ryan could tell he was upset that he kept Allison a secret from him. It wasn't like it was his fault. I didn't like the people knowing about his past.  
  
And then he came to Sandy and Kirsten. Sandy was examining Allison from a far. He wanted to give her a chance, just like Ryan, but so far she hadn't made a good impression on anyone. Kirsten sat there in deep thought, looking slightly terrified. She was probably thinking that she was going to end up with another kid, and was thinking that Allison would be an awful influence on Seth, because honestly, she would be.  
  
Allison had her eyes on the ground, her hands gripping the sleeves to a grey sweater that was absolutely huge on her. Ryan realized that it was one of his sweaters. She was soaking wet, still shivering from the cold. He would have warmed her up by giving her a hug like what he used to when she was four but he was afraid that she would slap him. He remembered the hurt in her eyes as Seth said 'my brother'. He wanted to understand.  
  
Sandy finally spoke, breaking the awkward silence. "How about we start with how you are related?" Sandy's words were slow and shaky, as if he were changing what he was going to say as he spoke.  
  
Allison looked up and she glanced at Ryan. Ryan knew the story better seeing he was alive when it happened; but how to start? "When I was three or four my dad and mom separated for about a month I guess. I don't really remember it. He met Gina, Allison's mom and then after a month my dad and my mom got back together." Ryan stopped, remembering how happy they were for that short time. "Then Allison was born and Gina contacted my dad about it. My mom had no clue. My parent's divorced and my dad went to live with Gina and Allison. I met them a few times and then a year later my dad took off, neither of us have seen him since. Last I heard he was in jail." Ryan actually knew that for a fact but it didn't matter. "We got close a few years ago and yea.. That's basically it." He finished. He hated reminiscing about his past, it was awful, and all he wanted to think about was the present and future.  
  
"And then YOU got arrested!" Allison got up and spit out each word at if they were poisoning her system. "And became a preppy like the rest of these people." Her eyes bore into his soul, pinning Ryan to the chair. Kirsten calmly got up and sat Allison beside her gently. For some weird reason, Allison didn't fight her, as if she was the only one she trusted in the room.  
  
Seth looked at Ryan in a questioning way. Ryan knew what he was asking. He was asking if he actually thought of him that way. Seth turned away. "What happened to you eye?" Seth had that 'let's say the first thing that come into my head' thing down pact. Ryan swallowed. He already had a feeling of what had happened. "That's why I need Ryan." Allison replied calmly, for once. "I. uh." she looked away. At that second Ryan regained his used of his legs. "That son of a bitch!" He said jumping up angrily upsetting a vase full of flowers making it crash to the floor. "Wait! What's going on?" Kirsten said also getting up, her eyes following Ryan pace like a trapped lion. "He did that to you! Again! Didn't he!" Seth had seen Ryan angry, mainly at water polo playing idiots, but never like this. This Ryan scared him.  
  
Seth's eyes suddenly shifted staring at Allison, the fiery girl who had only a few moments ago overpowered him, pushing him out of her path like a tornado to her target, was now cowering on the couch next to him. She looked so small. Ryan stopped pacing a cautiously knelt down in front of her. "Jed did that to you didn't he?" He ran his index finger along the bruise. Allison looked away from his sea blue eyes. Ryan immediately got up "I knew it!"  
  
"Who is Jed? I don't understand." Sandy said taking Ryan by the shoulders. He looked at Sandy. No matter how much he trusted him he couldn't know about him. "This is none of your business, you can't help." He knew those words stung by the pain in Sandy's eyes. Sandy sat down on the couch beside Allison. "Who is he sweetie?" He asked sugary sweetly touching her hands. She jerked her hands and moved down the couch where she bumped into Seth. She got up and huddled in Ryan's arms. "Don't touch me." She then realized what she was doing and shook off Ryan's arms. "Here I'll take you to the pool house; you can stay here for the night." Kirsten said forcing a small smile. Sandy watched the women leave and immediately looked at Ryan. "We'll talk in the morning, when everyone has cooler heads." His eyes shifted to Seth. "Goodnight boys."  
  
Seth looked over at Ryan. His deep brown eyes said it all. Ryan read them. I can't believe you didn't tell me. I can't believe you still can't trust me. We're supposed to be brothers. Seth looked away and sulked to him room. Ryan heard a door slam and some punk rock music being blasted. Kirsten returned and put her hand on his shoulder, in a weird comforting way. "She told me." She said softly. Ryan turned his head, terrified that Ally had leaked their secret. "Goodnight Ryan." She walked to the room where Sandy sat. It was time for another talk. They had just received another piece to the Ryan puzzle.  
  
What did Jed do? Who is Jed anyways? What is the secret that Kirsten knows?  
  
Read and Review and You'll find out!!! 


	3. The Dirt

A/N: AS before, I don't own ANYTHING. And thanks SOOO much to those who reviewed in such a short time! By the way, I know that Seth and Ryan are brothers, but I remember in one episode, (can't remember which) but I think Seth referred to Ryan as his brother or something. Anyways, back to the story.  
  
Kirsten walked into the study in which Sandy was sitting. A law book was sitting in front of him, his nightly reading, but he had his head in his heads. Obviously upset. What does he expect from Ryan? Kirsten thought. Ryan is from a rough past, it will take a while for him to trust us. A few months in their pool house wasn't going to make years and years of trust come out of the blue.  
  
"Sandy." She finally spoke, her voice echoing though the room. Sandy jumped, coming out of his daydream. Kirsten suddenly regretted it. She didn't want to tell him. How selfish was she? "Yea?" He asked suddenly hopeful. He was dying for some good news. She walked beside him and leaned against the desk, she avoided his eyes. We are married for God sake! I can trust Sandy! She urged herself. Sandy clued in. "You know! Don't you!" His eyes were wide. She bit her lip. "Ok I'll tell you, but not a word to Seth! It's bad enough that Ryan had to know." Sandy quickly nodded his head in agreement.  
  
"Jed supposedly is Ally's mother's husband. Ryan never told us that in the 8th grade he had a huge argument with his mom and went to live with them. He walked in on Jed beating Allison one day; she said it was over dishes or something." Kirsten took a deep breath. She couldn't even imagine someone beating on someone like that.  
  
"He tried to save her didn't he?" Sandy said solemnly shaking his head. "Just like he is now." "She doesn't trust anyone but him, is the feeling I'm getting. And I think I'm the only one she would let touch her is because you and Seth are men." Kirsten added. Sandy sat up in the chair and looked his wife right in the eyes. "What does she want Ryan to do then?" Kirsten shrugged.  
  
Seth stood at the doorway staring at his parents; completely oblivious. He might as well be a fly on the wall. He knew exactly what Allison wanted Ryan to do. She was going to run.  
  
"You told her!" Ryan said as soon as he reached the pool house. "You told her about Jed and grade 8 and.. Everything?" He stood there staring at his little sister. She got up and poked his chest. "What? You think she was going to let me stay here without me telling her something? At least when I leave she'll know why!" She yelled right back. Just like home. Ryan thought. The yelling; the screaming; breaking stuff; home sweet home.  
  
"Unlike you! You know I had to find out that you were arrested by Squeaky?! Squeaky! He knew before me!" (A/N: I borrowed the nickname from a friend.. Don't ask anyways.) Ryan swallowed. She always had to throw that into her face, didn't she? "Leaving? What do you mean leaving?" She reached into the soaking wet grey sweater pocket.  
  
She pulled out about a grand in cash. Ryan's eyes widened. "Where did you get that?!" He snatched the cash out of her hand and flipped through it. This was the most money he had seen in his entire life, and he lived in Newport! "Sock drawer. He may have a nice jab but he isn't very creative. Ryan, I'm getting out of here." She said taking it back and shoving it in her pant's pocket. She sat on the edge of his bed. "I'm thinking of going to New York." She grinned. He had never seen her happy like this before.  
  
"You can't, you're a minor; you can't buy a plane ticket." He sat beside her speaking softly. "That's why you're coming with me!" she said excitedly, yet her voice crackled with nervousness.  
  
Ryan sat there and thought over what this 14year old was saying. "No, I can't! I made a life here, in Newport. There's Seth and the Cohen's. And Marissa." He couldn't believe he even considered leaving. "Ryan, they are just fluff, you and me, we're blood." She tugged a black t-shirt. "Ry, if I go back, which they will make me." She pointed toward the house which seemed to be glowing. "I'll be dead. He'll kill me I swear." Tears welled up in her deep green eyes. They had lost their spark they had when she was little.  
  
Seth ran through the rain to the pool house. It was pouring. He was soaked to the bone when he reached there. He whipped open the glass door. "Don't worry Ally, I'll fix this." Ryan finished. Allison looked up staring at him. His hair was all wet, laying flat against his head. "What do you want Stuart?" "Seth. Why can't anyone get that right?" He yelped; Ryan laughing. "Ry, running won't fix anything. You're not leaving. My mom and dad are you're guardians remember?" Seth wasn't going to let his best friend slip away. Not like he almost did. "I'm not." Ryan smirked. "We have another plan."  
  
. . . . . . . . . . . What is their plan? (I honestly don't know any suggestions?) R/R and you'll find out! 


	4. Dude my Pops!

A/N: Yea, yea, I don't own anything except Jed and Ally.. Blah blah blah. Ummm anything else? Hope not.  
  
Seth stood in front of him blinking. Why had I said that? Ryan thought. He didn't have any ideas. "You do?" Ally said looking over at him. Her looks shot darts pinning his hands of the bed. "We'll report it. You'll go into foster care, and when I'm old enough I'll become your guardian."  
  
Allison's face dropped, he could almost hear her hopes shattering on the floor. Seth stared at her. He couldn't believe Ryan was even considering it. "Sandy he'll make sure you will be ok, and I would visit you everyday. We have to get you out of there Ally."  
  
She shifted and got up. "Yeah, it's probably best." She refused to look at either boy; who were both in awe that she agreed. They watched as she huddled under a blanket on a couch. "Good-night, Ryan. Seth, night." She gave them both a reassuring smile. Ryan watched as Seth ran back to the house, amazed that Ally had actually gone along with his idea without even a word.  
  
Ryan stretched and got up. He looked at the clock beside his bed; 7:30am. Odd, he thought, he was sure he had forgotten to turn his alarm off. It should have gone off an hour ago. He looked over at the couch. The sheets were perfectly folded at the end of the couch. He looked around the room. There wasn't a sign that Ally had been there except her necklace on the coffee table by the couch. He sat up and propped himself up by putting his hand on the pillow beside him. A loud crunching noise filled his ears. A pink sheet of paper was crumpled in his hand. He smoothed it out and slowly read it to himself.  
  
"Ry,  
  
It was nice of the Cohen's to let me stay the night; real sweet, seriously. But I can't do the foster thing. It won't work. I have decided to get out of here. Hitchhike if I have to. I'm thinking, San Francisco. I'll find a job, and I have some cash, don't worry. Oh and I left my necklace, you keep it ok? I'll be in touch.  
  
Ally"  
  
Ryan's eyes widened. He ran inside, his thoughts revolving around ideas of freaks, even worse than Jed picking up Allison. He slid across the floor of the house almost crashing into Seth, upsetting a box of Corn Pops which were thrown across the room. "Dude, my Pops!" Seth whined as he went to get another box of cereal. Kirsten came into the room after hearing the noise. Looking into Ryan's eyes she sensed something was wrong. "Ryan?" She couldn't manage anything else out.  
  
He handed her a pink paper ball and ran around the house making sure she wasn't just messing with him or if she had been caught. No such luck. "Ryan!" Kirsten yelped from the kitchen. "What is in San Francisco?" She came racing from the kitchen still holding the paper, with Seth on her heels trying to read the note over her shoulder. She waved Seth away the same way you would wave away a bug. Seth dodged the swats and grabbed the note away from her. "Oh." his voice had been so soft. He ran his hand through his messy curly hair. He bit his lip re-reading the note; squinting, as if it would change to something like 'We ran out of milk back in 5'.  
  
Ryan trudged outside and walked down the driveway. She left hours ago, must have heard his alarm and turned it off. He zipped up the sweater he slept in the night before. He didn't bother changing. He needed a smoke. He reached into his jean pocket; nothing. He checked his other pocket; nothing. He reached into his sweater pockets, yet another pink note. "Ryan, I.O.U. one pack of smokes-Ally" He read aloud. "Great." He replied sarcastically as he crushed the paper into a ball and tossed into the ditch.  
  
"Need a smoke?" A sweet voice asked from not to far away. He looked over at Marissa, she looked better since the last he saw her, which was in a hospital. "Yes." He said taking the one from her hands and reaching into his pockets only revealing that Ally had taken his lighter too. Marissa giggled as she pulled a bright pink one from her pocket and tossed it into Ryan's hands. "Who is Ally?" She finally asked. "Is that the girl I saw leave the pool house at like 5am?" She bit her lip as Ryan stared at her in awe. She saw her; she might know where she went. "New girlfriend?" Marissa asked softly.  
  
"No, little sister, she's fourteen and she stole my cigarettes. How do you know her name?" He asked abruptly. Marissa blushed. "I overheard you talking to yourself." Marissa shifted her weight and looked over at him. "I didn't know you had a sister. Why did she leave? Did you have a fight with her?"  
  
Marissa was so caring. Even if she was suffering she was still worried about everyone else. Like she was going through her parent's divorce; Ryan knew what that felt like, although it wasn't anything like hers. For him it was like one second his dad was in his room passed out from drinking, next second he was gone. A clean break, and he didn't fight for anything either, he was just gone like a ghost from a past life. His mom never talked about it either, so neither did he. His family never talked about anything.  
  
This is probably why coming to the Cohen's was so hard. They talked about everything, they knew everything. He had no secrets with them and that was partially comforting and yet annoying. Maybe that's why Seth was so pissed off about Ally. Maybe because..  
  
"Ryan!"  
  
He snapped back into reality. "You didn't answer me." Marissa looked concerned. "I don't think I should drag you into my problem. I already have the Cohen's involved, I.." "Coop! God we're going to lose our reservations at the spa!" Ryan heard the front door slam and light steps down the driveway. "Oh, Chino." Summer Roberts. Ryan was surprised Seth wasn't down here already; that boy had a Summer radar in his room or something. "Surprise, surprise." Summer sighed. "Ok can you guys hurry this up, this took 3 weeks to get our spot and if I lose it.oh someone here won't get out of here alive." Marissa looked over at Ryan, her eyes begging him to tell her. He was going to be strong. "See Ya." He waved and dropped the butt in a puddle and started his way up the driveway. "Will you to just figure out if you like each other or not!" He heard Summer whine. "It was cool for a while, but now this is just annoying." He heard a car door slam and an engine start.  
  
Kirsten came running out the front door looking rather panicked. "He knows she was here."  
  
A/N: I'm trying to make the chapters longer. I didn't realize how short they were. I had to put in some Marissa/Ryan stuff and I'll probably have some Seth and Summer fights or something, cause it seems like a lot of fun... SO PLEASE R/R!! PUH LEEZ???  
  
kk toodles! 


	5. Limbo

A/N: Yet again I don't own any of this; however I wish like hell that I owned Adam Brody.  
  
Ryan's eyes widened, he swallowed. Everything seemed to being going in slow motion.  
  
"Ryan, don't worry, we are going to find her. He won't get her." Kirsten said walking to Ryan putting her hand on his shoulder and rubbing it in a motherly way.  
  
He shook it off and closed his eyes. "How do you know." he started his voice crackled as he took deep breaths.  
  
"Social services called, saying someone called, they would be dropping off your transcripts, but I already have them. They said it was your uncle Jed." She immediately started chewing on a thumbnail. "We should get you cleaned up and out of here. I don't need you to start another fight, even if he deserves it."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Seth sat in his room on the net, checking out every site on how to get from Newport to San Francisco. Buses, Taxis, and she mentioned hitch hiking. He rubbed his temple in frustration. She could be anywhere right now. He sighed. Maybe she would be ok, like she was a big girl; she could get a job at a restaurant. What was he thinking?! She's a fourteen year old girl with a hot head and big mouth; if Ryan couldn't make it on the streets alone, how could Ally?  
  
A few quiet knocks interrupted his thoughts. Ryan opened the door and crept into his room. "Any ideas?" Ryan asked quietly as he leaned over Seth's chair. Seth had only seen Ryan this worried once and that was in TJ; and Marissa was like an inch from stroking out. Obviously Ryan loved her so Seth had to try really hard.  
  
Seth sighed. "Not really, but you said she had cash, so I'm thinking she'd might go to a bus station. So I think we should drive up the highway and check as many bus stations as we can, before nightfall. That way you're out of the house if Jed does come."  
  
Ryan nodded solemnly. It was a crumby plan, but at least he would be out of the house actually doing something.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Summer squealed with excitement as she gripped the wheel as they drove down the highway. Summer hated girls who squealed, but this seemed to be one of those few times it was okay to. This was the first time Marissa and her had some girl time away from school, and the prying judging eyes of the prissy stuck up Newport girls; granted she usually was one of them but this was Marissa, the only person who understood her, beneath the bitchy exterior, other than Cohen, but that was a completely different story. Besides today was going to be all about pampering themselves; at Daddy's cost of course.  
  
Summer looked over at Marissa; she was slouched in the passenger's seat and chewing on her nails. "Ok. I give, what's wrong?" Summer said slowing her speed. Goddamn Sunday drivers, they better not be late because of these people.  
  
Marissa didn't answer; she just kept her eyes down.  
  
"You only chew on your nails when you're worried. You ruined your manicure during exams last year, you chipped off all of your nail polish while Ryan was in jail for burning down that house; you ruin your nails when you're worried." Summer passed the car and beeped her horn. It was a view, it wasn't that special!  
  
"Ryan, he was worried about his sister, he wouldn't tell me what was wrong." Marissa whispered; her hands lay in her lap. She began chipping off her pink nail polish.  
  
Summer frowned. She didn't get why Marissa was worried. "Coop; that has nothing to do with you, besides, Chino can take care of himself and the rest of his Chino siblings."  
  
"No, it's not that. I think he is going to move in with his sister. Leave Newport." Marissa began chewing on her thumbnail.  
  
Summer rolled her eyes. That boy wouldn't leave Newport if he hadn't consulted Marissa and discussed every option. Both of them were head or heels for each other, they just kept over analyzing everything.  
  
"Please, Ryan is like seventeen, he can't live on his own. Besides, his guardians are the Cohen's; he can't leave without their ok; otherwise it he is deemed a runaway and the cops search for him." God Coop could be so blind sometimes.  
  
"How do you know that?" Marissa's head whipped toward Summer in a millisecond. It was amazing how Marissa could ignore every word she said and then when she says something about Ryan she gets all the attention she could ever want; figures.  
  
"Cohen told me when we stopped that one time on our way to TJ. You went to the washroom and Ryan ran in for some smokes? Remember?" Summer's eyes were plastered onto the road. "I asked him what the deal with Ryan was and he told me. No biggie."  
  
Marissa turned back looking out the window and saw something that caught her eye. It was a bit up the road, on the shoulder. It looked like a big grey lump. She squinted. "Oh my God! Summer! Pull over!"  
  
"What?! Why?" Summer panicked and jerked the wheel quickly.  
  
"It's a body!" Marissa jumped out of the car. "She's alive!"  
  
The person's chest moved up and down, harsh gasped breaths. Her eyes were closed and she shook uncontrollably. Summer knelt down beside her and pulled her jacket off and placed it under her head. "Sweetie, don't worry. We are just looking for I.D. ok?" Summer whispered. She reached into the girl's pockets pulling out their contents. A lighter, a pack of smokes and a Polaroid. Summer's eyes widened as she realized who was in it. "Coop! Coop check this out."  
  
Marissa frowned and took the picture from her hand. She read the writing on the bottom. 'Me and my bro, July 2000.' She looked at the people in the picture. She looked at the girl whose breaths were shallower by the second. "I better call Ryan."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ryan sat beside Seth, his arms crossed. Seth bit his lip uncomfortably and shifted in the driver's seat. "Ok we have only tried 3 bus stations and 2 truck stops. Someone has bound to have seen her. Ally couldn't have gone too far." Seth smiled reassuringly. "Besides, Ally said she would be in touch, mom is home making sure she doesn't call and Dad is calling every Bus Station in a 100 mile radius with her description and he is calling all the trucking companies too. So we are trying."  
  
Ryan nodded. He hadn't been saying much. It was getting close to lunch and the growls in his stomach were getting louder by the second. "How about we stop soon." Ryan finally spoke. "Get lunch."  
  
Seth nodded and pulled into a rest station. They got out of the truck and leaned against the bumper. Kirsten had gone all motherly and packed sandwiches in a cooler. Seth tossed Ryan a coke and pulled one out for him. Neither of them were in the mood to eat. They were both nervous and jumpy so when Seth cell went off they almost screamed. "Hello?" Seth said into the phone. He frowned, not recognizing the number on the display. "Summer? What are you doing calling.You what?!" Seth jumped off the bumper and began pacing. "Where are you? Yea.Yea.Yea.the hospital.okay.Yea we'll be there in a minute. Ok. Don't worry.Yea I'll call my dad.Ok, bye"  
  
Ryan went pale. "It's Marissa isn't it?" he whispered.  
  
Seth shook his head. "No, Marissa is fine, but they found Allison."  
  
A/N: You like? This was a hard chapter to write. But I think I got it. Do you like? R&R! Please? You'll find out what EXACTLY happened to Ally because it isn't what you think.  
  
~ToOdLeS!!! 


	6. Restless Slumber

A/N: I don't own the OC or any characters or actors. Do I really need to say that anymore?  
  
Seth drove fast down the highway going the opposite way the came. Ryan looked over at him. He looked so frustrated and flustered. "Dammit!" he would yelp every few seconds; he couldn't even dial his own phone number.  
  
Ryan took the cell phone from Seth's hand who was surprised when he did. The phone rang in his ear. Kirsten picked up.  
  
"Hello?!" she yelled excitedly into the phone.  
  
"Kirsten? It's Ryan." Ryan said calmly taking deep breaths. Seth's eyes darted back and forth from the road to Ryan to the cell phone.  
  
"Ryan.hi." Kirsten's excitement left her voice. She was obviously waiting for Ally. "Any leads on where she went?"  
  
Ryan paused; he was terrified to tell her. It wasn't fair that he was ruining her life over his family, but he knew he had to tell her. "Kirsten you should sit down."  
  
"Ryan? Ryan, what's wrong?" Kirsten was scared. He could tell by her voice. She had met Ally for about an hour and yet she was scared.  
  
Ryan took a deep breath. He didn't want to say because if he said it, it would mean it was true, and he didn't want it to be. It was just a dream; a nightmare. He was really in the pool house. Ally was fine, in her bed dreaming sweet dreams. She didn't find Ryan and wasn't beat up by Jed. Seth and Kirsten and Sandy didn't even know about Allison or the song he sang to her when she was just a baby. He was just dreaming.  
  
"Ryan! Ryan; talk to me!" Kirsten yelled into the phone. It was all real and he had to tell her.  
  
Ryan swallowed. "Marissa and Summer found her on the side of Highway 5 and called us. They said she looked pretty beat up. They called an ambulance and making their way back to Newport." Ryan took a breath after blurting all that out. "We are on our way too. Get Sandy to come." Ryan didn't realize that tears were stinging his eyes.  
  
"Okay." She softly stammered on the other end of the line. "Uh.Ryan?" She said suddenly louder.  
  
"Yea."  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
"No." He whispered wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "Kirsten I have to go." Ryan hung up quickly. He couldn't sit there and be asked questions like that. It was too hard everything was made harder at the Cohen's.  
  
Seth looked over at him. "It's going to be ok. You know that dude?" Seth couldn't sit still. He was extremely jumpy also. It terrified Seth that Ryan could be so affected by something like this. Ryan had a barrier that separated himself from everyone else; whether it was from himself or Marissa, or even his own lawyer. Ryan was supposed to be untouchable. But the Ryan who was sitting next to him wasn't like that at all.  
  
Summer rushed into the hospital. She couldn't believe the paramedics wouldn't allow Marissa in the ambulance with the girl. She didn't even catch her name. While sitting on the shoulder of the road with her the girl drifted in and out of consciousness. Marissa had become attached to her. Summer wasn't sure why. Maybe because she had been like that girl no longer than a month ago.  
  
Marissa looked around not sure where to go; she looked like a lost puppy. They made their way to the front desk. "A girl about 14 or 15 just came in here. She was found by the side of the road beat up. An ambulance picked her up and she came here. Where is she?" Summer ordered from a large Mexican woman who sat behind it.  
  
The woman blinked, as if she didn't understand or was weighing each of Summer's words carefully. "Are you a family member?" The woman blinked a few more times.  
  
"No." Summer sighed. "But we found her."  
  
"Well, I'm sorry but I can't help you. We aren't permitted to reveal any information about our patients to people other than family members. I'm sorry." The woman's gaze went back to the glowing computer screen in front of her.  
  
"But." Summer started. She had never been refused anything, and she wasn't going to start here.  
  
"I'm SORRY. But we aren't allowed to give any information on our patients. Please take a seat." The woman glared at Summer. Obviously she wasn't going to give in either.  
  
Marissa bit her lip. "We are friends with her brother and we just want to be able to tell him when he arrives if she ok or not."  
  
The receptionist looked at her, unblinking this time; she frowned. She typed on her keyboard. "It says that she may have a concussion and they are checking her out for it. They are doing X-rays to check for broken bones." The woman looked up at them both. "If anyone asks you didn't hear it from me."  
  
Marissa nodded and turned and left dragging Summer along behind her.  
  
Seth and Ryan slid into the hospital doors and the smell overcame them both. It was like rubbing alcohol, cheep detergent and possibly an anti- bacterial; it smelt like a hospital. They immediately saw the two girls, who both looked rather pale. Marissa's eyes immediately began to well up. It wasn't fair to Ryan; he had been at the hospital too many times this year. Once with Luke, another in Tijuana with Marissa, and now this. Ryan was terrified, Marissa could tell by his eyes.  
  
They all sat in the waiting room. The blue-ish green chairs stood out against the stark white walls. For once Summer sat there completely silent, her head lay on Seth's shoulder. It was too much seeing that girl on the road. It reminded her of Marissa; it was too close to home. Ryan kept excusing himself to the washroom and every time he came back his eyes were redder and puffier. It was so obvious that he was crying.  
  
Sandy and Kirsten were the next to arrive. It was lucky too; the doctor had just came out into the waiting room was about to speak to Ryan.  
  
"Ryan!" Kirsten immediately pulled Ryan into her arms. She didn't care how much he pulled away; he needed someone and that someone was going to be her.  
  
"Kirsten, its ok.I'm Ok.I swear." He said wriggling out of her grasp.  
  
Sandy was the first to actually acknowledge the doctor. "What new do you have?" Everyone's attention flew to the doctor. He was a tall man, in his late forties to early fifties, had dark hair with a few grey streaks showing through. He looked weary and tired but his dark blue eyes shone, he was the bearer of good news.  
  
He smiled at each of them. "My name is Dr. Morris, and I have been looking after....... I'm sorry I didn't catch her name. She is labeled as a Jane Doe."  
  
Ryan immediately piped up. "Allison Rachelle Atwood." He swallowed, he was so nervous.  
  
"Yes, Allison, well we have done a few x-rays and tests. She seems to have a concussion, fairly mild, her arm is broken; just a hairline fracture, no signs of sexual abuse, although she seems to have a few ribs that have been broken. The rest seems to be just surface scraps and cuts, nothing to be worried about." The doctor stopped and his eyes shifted from Sandy to Kirsten. "She does have quite a shiner on her right eye, and it seems to not come from the attack. Could either of you explain this?"  
  
Ryan stepped forward. "She got into a fight at school. If you think that was bad you should have seen what she did to the boy." He laughed uncomfortably.  
  
"Alright." The doctor didn't seem quite convinced. "I will need to speak to you two about payments. She didn't have any identification on her therefore I have no medical insurance." Sandy nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. He followed the Dr. Morris to the front desk and began talking in private.  
  
"The rest of you can follow me and visit her." A nurse said making them all jump; no one had even noticed her.  
  
Allison was lying in a bed, she was awake and looked rather pissed off and uncomfortable. "Ryan." She bit her lip as he entered the room followed by Seth, Summer, Marissa and Kirsten. He stood beside her and took the hand that wasn't in a cast.  
  
"If anyone asks you about your black eye you tell them you got into a fight at school with a boy twice you size, got it?" he muttered giving her a hug. He felt her nod and he pulled away.  
  
He looked her over. She had some scrapes on her chin and a big blue hand print on her arm. Other than the cast she looked ok, he had seen her in worse conditions.  
  
"They say I can get out of here in about two hours, maybe less." She said excitedly.  
  
Ryan looked at her solemnly. "What happened?"  
  
She looked away. This was the second time in two days she had been asked that, and she had turned to hate that question. "Hitch hiking. The guy beat me up, took my cash and drove away. It happens." She shrugged, it could have been worse; he let her live.  
  
Everyone stared at her, amazed at her calmness how she just brushed something like that off. It was crazy. "We aren't letting you go. We are going to get you to fill out a report and you will stay with us even if you are in the pool house with Ryan. You aren't going back home and you sure as hell not going to pull another 'I'm just going to San Francisco'." Kirsten finally said saying exactly Ryan was thinking of.  
  
Allison woke up groggily, her arm throbbed and she had a slight headache but other than that she was ok. She rubbed her eyes with her good hand and propped herself up. She squinted as the sun streamed through the windows. She remembered hitch hiking and waking up on the ground with a pair of angels floating around her. The next thing was seeing Ryan, one of his guardians and few other people, but she was drawn to a blank on how she ended up in a bedroom that had posters of a few punk bands that she recognized and had shelves and shelves of comic books. Where the hell was she?  
  
She quietly tip toed down the stairs thinking she could make it to the door without a sound. No one would notice her gone. much.  
  
"Allison, good you're up!" Seth said from the kitchen, as she entered the hall.  
  
She cursed under her breath and made her way to the kitchen. It was like the perfect family. Kirsten was leaning against the fridge sipping black coffee, Sandy stood at the kitchen table slowly packing his briefcase and Seth at the island eating corn pops with tousled bed-head.  
  
Allison frowned. "Where is Ryan?"  
  
Kirsten turned to her and smiled. "He's sleeping in the pool house. He was sitting in Seth's room watching you, making sure you were ok, but he kept dozing off. I made him."  
  
Allison bit her lip. "Sorry about taking over your room. I think I'll go see Ryan."  
  
She entered the pool house and sat beside Ryan, who was sleeping soundly. He took deep breaths; sighing. It was so peaceful. She had never known that. At her house she was scared to sleep. Afraid she would wake up in the night and have Jed hovering over her and slamming a pillow onto her face and beating her with his free hand and whatever was accessible.  
  
Ryan's eyes fluttered open. "Hey you're up." he whispered groggily. "What time is it?"  
  
She turned to look at the clock. "About 8:30. Are you doing ok?"  
  
Ryan rubbed his eyes and yawned and sat up. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He ran his fingers through his blonde hair, brushing it out of his face.  
  
Allison smirked. "I'm ok. I'm fine." She bit her lip and looked around the room, her eyes settling on the coffee table. "Do you have my necklace?" She asked completely out of the blue.  
  
Ryan smiled and eagerly took off a silver chain with a long crystal hanging from the end. He remembered the necklace fondly. He gave it to her on her 10th birthday. He remembered the look on her face. He put it back on her. They were together again.  
  
~ * ~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
A/N: I know it's been a while. I have been busy with my Everwood Fiction and I should get to Degrassi one also. Don't worry this isn't the end yet seeing we haven't even MET Jed yet. We only have had references. So the story will go on. Oh! And I think I might have Ryan singing in the next chapter. (Don't worry, it's more like a lullaby than him just belting out in song in the middle of the chapter. which would be completely OUT of character for him) ~TOODLES 


	7. Unwanted

Seth stood at the door staring out at the pool house. He yearned for the closeness to someone like Ryan had with Allison. In a way he hated the fact he was an only child. He put his dish in the sink and walked up to his room for find some clothes. He stared at his bed; the sheets rolled into a ball in the middle. He stretched out on the bed and breathed in and closed his eyes. His bed had an unfamiliar scent to it; like citrus. It must be Allison's perfume or something. But he didn't remember the scent while helping Ryan tuck her in. He opened his eyes.  
  
"Hey Seth."  
  
His eyes flashed toward the door. Marissa smiled and walked in leaning against the doorframe.  
  
"I'm sorry did I wake you?" She was so sweet.  
  
Seth shook his head and sat up. "Are you looking for Ryan? Because he is in the pool house with Allison."  
  
Marissa shook her head. "I know he is. You mom told me; I didn't want to bother their sibling bonding thing."  
  
Seth nodded and swung his feet off his bed, settling his feet on the cool hardwood floor. "Is Summer with you?"  
  
Marissa giggled. "She is the only thing you think about isn't she?" Marissa shook her head at the love Seth had for her friend. "She is at my house. We are planning on going to the beach later and I wanted to take Allison with us. You know; girl stuff."  
  
Seth laughed. "Actually, I don't know, seeing I'm not a girl and I have no interest in 'girl stuff'; I have no clue."  
  
Marissa rolled her eyes. "If you did I would be worried about you."  
  
"No! No! No! Ryan you can't make me! I have never done a girls afternoon and I have no intentions to!" Allison yelped, shaking her head at Ryan who was laughing into his Coca Puffs.  
  
"You'll like Marissa, she's cool." Ryan said shaking more cereal into his bowl.  
  
Allison stole his bowl away from him. "I go in the shower for five minutes and I have to go to the beach with Malibu Barbie? I think not. You may love her, but I don't have to go."  
  
"Two things. Give me back my cereal!" He said grabbing for the bowl in his sister was picking through. "And this is Newport, not Malibu."  
  
Ally slid the bowl over to him against the marble countertop. "I would rather sculpt something with my own earwax."  
  
"Ew...Graphic." Seth interjected from the door, making a face. "Dude; how can you eat after that?"  
  
Ryan shrugged and dug in. "And Ally you're going." He said between bites.  
  
"I...can't!! Seth and I are going someplace!" She replied leaping to Seth's side slipping an arm over his shoulder.  
  
Ryan raised an eyebrow and frowned at Seth. "Yea, I'm coming with Summer and Marissa." Seth grinned pulling keys out of his pocket. "I'm driving."  
  
Ally's head dropped in defeat and the doorbell rang. Seth smiled triumphantly. "Summer is here." He basically skipped to the door.  
  
A loud guff voice filled the house to the brim, making Ally cower in fright. "Move!"  
  
Allison ran over to Ryan who opened his arms in feeble hopes of comforting her. They both knew he was there before he entered the room. Because Jed worked at the morgue, he often smelt like rotting flesh, and because he was a chain smoker and an alcoholic, it just added to the staleness of his scent. It invaded the rooms, slithering in like a snake.  
  
His footsteps echoed through the house and when he entered, both of them shivered in fright. They never wanted to see him again. He was a tall man; he had large muscles rippling beneath the white wife beater he wore. He wore navy blue work places and large steel toed boots; Ally knew them well; the idea of having them crash down upon her ribcage was terrifyingly painful. His eyes were a smoky grey that always looked angry and his thin lips were spread out in a cocky smirk as his eyes fell upon both of them.  
  
"Figures you would come and find him Ally. Drag him into our little problems. Come here." He growled from his throat. He took a few steps toward her and gripped her wrist pulling her towards him, making her squeal in pain.  
  
Ryan stood up upsetting the stool her sat on. "Don't touch her Jed."  
  
Seth slid into the room with Kirsten on his heels. Seth looked like a pasty white colour and he had a red mark on his upper arm. Kirsten had the phone in her hand calling Sandy.  
  
"Jed; I presume. Please, let go of Ally and we won't add this to the report." Kirsten spoke calmly, speaking in almost monotone.  
  
Jed's eyes flashed at her. "No! This little bitch stole my money!" His free hand took Allison by the throat. "She should learn not to touch what isn't hers."  
  
Allison began to turn a purple colour; her fingers scratched at his hands but began to go limp within a few seconds.  
  
Ryan jumped at him making Jed's grip loosen on her throat. Allison gasped for breath. "I . . . don't . . . have it." Her voice was weak; she sat leaned against the island of the kitchen. Ryan knelt beside her his arm's circling her body, becoming a human barrier.  
  
"Then where is it!?" Jed roared at them. His eyes darted from person to person.  
  
Kirsten stepped forward. "She was attacked yesterday and it was stolen. Now, please exit our residence or we will add this to the police report."  
  
He looked over at her. "Police report! I did nothing wrong. I came to get my money!"  
  
Seth spoke up, his voice barely a whisper. "My parents are filing for custody, because she doesn't live in a safe place because of you."  
  
A large hand pushed Seth into the doorframe knocking the wind out of his lungs. He lay, blinking after finding himself on the floor. "Children should be seen not heard." Was the only response of Jed who smirked at Seth who looked up at him in fright.  
  
Kirsten fell to her knees and stroked Seth's hair. "Don't even try to lay another finger on these children! I swear to God I will call the police."  
  
Jed scowled. "Look lady, I don't freaking care about the kid. I just want my money. Give me the money and you can keep the kid. Now, money!"  
  
Kirsten got up and picked up her purse from counter. "How much was it?"  
  
"A grand and a half."  
  
Kirsten counted the money in her hand and placed it in his out stretched hand. He quickly counted over the money, smirking and putting it into his back pocket. "Do you need me to sign something to get rid of this leech?" He asked lightly kicking Allison's legs that were sprawled out on the floor.  
  
"What about mom?" Ally whispered looking up at him, her arms intertwined with Ryan's.  
  
Jed scoffed bending down to Ryan and Allison's eyelevel. "You seriously think she cares about you?" he smiled watching Allison's eyes fill up with tears. "You get a new house and new family. Your mom gets her old life. Allison, she never wanted you." He got up and turned his back on her. "You were a mistake. You aren't supposed to be alive."  
  
Allison bit her lip as it quivered, tears freely flowing down her cheeks.  
  
Kirsten followed Jed to the door, watching his every move. "Ally, I was just reminding you that everyday." He yelled back through the house.  
  
She sat alone in the pool house. Seth had promised to drive Marissa and Summer to the beach and he wouldn't miss Summer in a bikini any day; Ryan had tried to get out of his shift but it was a lost cause. Kirsten had gone out to get a social worker to begin on the case of trying to adopt her and Sandy was at work trying his best to get out of his appointments.  
  
Allison sat on the edge of Ryan's bed. Jed's words echoed through her brain, reminding her of why her mom wouldn't fight the Cohen's. She tucked her knees under her chin, a tear rolling down her cheek.  
  
Ryan sat down by the pool. His boss finally let him go after explaining to him what happened in almost perfect detail. He shook his head. Everything that happened that day seemed so surreal. He yawned; that day had been so exhausting. Ryan made his way to the pool house, hoping to get at least an hour sleep before Seth came back to tell him all about how hot Summer looked in a bikini. Sometimes he just wanted to slap him and tell him that lives in Newport; every girl wears a bikini; it's no big deal!  
  
He walked in and smirked. There Allison lay, cuddled up in a tiny ball, hugging her knees, sleeping on his bed. "Ally? Wake up." He whispered shaking her gently.  
  
One of her eyes opened and soon the other did also. "Hey you. You're back."  
  
"Were you crying?" Ryan asked pulling her into a hug. He already knew she had.  
  
"Ry, remember that song you used to sing whenever I cried? Like the time I fell out of the tree at when we went to that park." She sighed, her head buried into his chest.  
  
Ryan smiled at the memory. It was one of the few times he had seen one of her bruises actually being an accident. "Yea, I remember."  
  
"Sing it." He felt her arms tighten around his middle.  
  
He bit his lip, as if he was trying to remember the lyrics, but he knew them. He took a deep breath, it had been so long since he had even thought about that song.  
  
"Sometimes I wish I could stop you from talking, when I hear the silly things you say. I think someone better put out the big light because I can't stand to see you this way." He sang softly into her ear, causing shivers to pulsate through her body. "Allison, I know this world is killing you. Oh Allison, my aim is true, my aim is true."  
  
He stopped and looked down at her. She had fallen asleep again.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A blond haired boy around the age of 12; sat by a big tree with a little girl who was crying in his arms. "Allison, it's ok. You're ok." He whispered and he began to sing. "Allison, I know this world is killing you. Oh Allison, my aim is true."  
  
The little girl sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Let's go home Ryan." She whispered back, brushing her raven hair out of her eyes and behind her ears.  
  
He nodded getting up and taking her hands pulling her to her feet. "Yea, it's getting late. Jed will get angry if we're late for dinner again."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: I hope you liked the flashback. I thought it would be kind of cute but whatever. Now, this is where I need you! If you want me to end it here, tell me. If not, tell me. You should also try to give me an idea or something to inspire me because after this.. I'm kind of stuck. If I keep going, I'll probably change the name of the story again. If I do, It will probably turn up under the name 'Allison'.  
  
Credit-The song that Ryan sings is from the song Alison by Elvis Costello. (Yea I know. who??? LOL) Actually. I first heard it in the movie Get Over It. and it was sung by Shane West. so that's why I liked it. So yea, tell me if you want more. and REVIEW!!  
  
~ TOODLES! 


	8. From Chino

Ryan walked out of the pool house shaking his head; so much for sleep.  
  
"Nice song Ry. You could be the next American Idol. I could see it. Ryan Atwood and his first single soars to the top of the charts. Classic." Seth stood grinning slyly, waving his arms dramatically.  
  
Ryan's jaw dropped. "Dude don't even think about it."  
  
Seth shook his head. "Oh I wouldn't. But imagine how long Luke would hold that over your head. Actually, I'm a little broke right now; do you think he pays well for inside information?"  
  
Ryan stared at him, his eyes intimidating Seth into shutting up. Seth shrugged and journeyed towards the kitchen.  
  
"So, Summer and I were thinking of going to the boardwalk later tonight. Want to come?" Seth said shining his nails against his shirt and raising his eyebrows suggestively.  
  
Ryan rolled his eyes.  
  
Seth sighed and his shoulders slumped. "Ok, Marissa and Summer are going to the boardwalk and want both of us and Allison to go."  
  
"That's what I thought." Ryan laughed opening the fridge and grabbing a coke and tossed one to Seth who uneasily caught it. "What time do we go?"  
  
Summer slapped Seth's arm playfully. "I can't believe you said that Cohen!" Her jaw dropped and she pushed him away from him.  
  
"What! I was being serious! I was wondering because I wanted to know if the backseat of Luke's pickup was comfortable! I was thinking of getting a truck like that!" Seth said raising his arms in surrender.  
  
Summer rolled her eyes. "Sure you are."  
  
Marissa giggled watching Seth and Summer bicker at each other. They had been for the last hour or so. But their words were drowned out by Ryan, who had barely said a word all night. "Is there something wrong Ryan?"  
  
Ryan's eyes didn't move from the sunset that made the sky a red colour. "No." He licked his lips and leaned back on the palms of his hands. The fine sand tickled his fingertips. For a second his eyes strayed from the sunset to Allison who was walking at the edge of the water. "Not right now."  
  
Marissa smiled, her eyes settled on Allison's profile. "Good." She whispered back.  
  
Light footsteps walked behind them. Ryan turned around and saw Luke standing there with a questioning look on his face. "Marissa? What's going on here? Is that Summer and that fag?" He asked shading his eyes squinting staring over in the couples' direction. Seth had caught Summer in his arms after she had stolen his shoes.  
  
Marissa whipped around. "Luke? I'm hanging out with my friends. What are you, my ex-boyfriend, doing here?" Marissa stressed the word ex-boyfriend; her eyes shot darts at him.  
  
Luke nodded over his right shoulder. A bunch of water polo teammates came walking toward him. They're laughs were loud and drunken. They had just come from Holly's latest big bash.  
  
Marissa bit her lip. She definitely didn't want a fight here; not now. "Ryan, go get you're sister. We'll go back to your place." She said getting up.  
  
Luke stared off at Allison. He pointed at her. "Is that one of Chino's relatives? What are you trying to take over here?" he spat.  
  
Ryan took a step in Luke's direction. "Leave her out of this."  
  
"Ryan, don't" Marissa breathed. "Luke leave it."  
  
Luke's eyes slid from Ryan to Marissa, knowing exactly whose side she was on. He looked over to Allison's direction. He spoke, half laughing. "Fine, I leave her alone. I just can't promise they won't." He pointed over to where Allison was where she was slowly getting swarmed by Luke's drunken buddies.  
  
Allison looked around the group. The air around her was the stale smell of alcohol and vomit. The boys had formed a small circle around her. Their laughs echoed through her skull, making her stiff and rigid. There was no way out.  
  
"Leave her alone!" Seth yelled pushing and shoving some of the off balance polo players out of the way.  
  
"Go away fag." One of the taller guys slurred, pushing Seth into Ryan who barely moved.  
  
Ryan pushed the guy hard in the chest. "He said leave her alone."  
  
The guy regained his balance and took a step toward Ryan. "What? We were just going to have some fun with her!" The guy replied stumbling over his words in a rage. "You have a problem with that Chino?"  
  
Luke jogged up beside his friend. "Leave her." He replied smirking. "You don't want to mess with Chino's sister. You don't know where that trash has been." Ryan's eyes flashed. The promise of staying out of trouble flew from his thoughts as his hands clenched into fists.  
  
Before Ryan could even raise a hand to him, Luke was bleeding. His lip had been spilt and his eyes traveled to Allison, whose soft face had turned into stone. Ryan had never seen his sister even act remotely anything like that.  
  
Luke's thumb went to his lip and stared at the tiny amount of blood on in. "If you weren't a girl." Luke muttered angrily.  
  
Allison's eyes flashed. Ryan stared at her; no one called Allison a girl, she hated the term. "I'm not a girl, I'm from Chino. You want to hit me; hit me. I dare you."  
  
Luke stared into her eyes and smirked, tempted at the offer.  
  
"Touch her and I'll kick your ass Luke." Ryan growled at him pushing Allison behind him.  
  
Luke rolled his eyes. "Come on let's go. The Chinos and their little friends don't want to play." He brushed past Ryan hitting his shoulder on the way out.  
  
Ryan turned to Allison. "What the hell! I don't need you picking fights or me. I can do that myself." He exploded at her. He angrily ran a hand through his hair.  
  
"I don't need you fighting my fights. I'm a big girl." Allison exploded back at him.  
  
"You just got beat up by some trucker! I don't need you to get beat up by some water polo jerk off!"  
  
"Ryan, calm down. Let's go home." Marissa said taking Ryan by the arm. "Ally doesn't need to be yelled at and you don't need to be yelled at either."  
  
Allison rolled her eyes. "Why the hell did I come find you?!" She muttered before storming off towards the Range Rover.  
  
Ryan blinked angrily and kicked at the sand. "Good question."  
  
Seth patted Ryan's back as they watched Summer run after Allison making sure she didn't run off. "Just let her cool down. She's probably still angry at Luke. Like whenever you were angry at Luke you would be all brooding and . . ."  
  
Ryan shot him a look that could kill.  
  
"Ok dropping it. But that's only proving my point."  
  
A/N: Ok, I'm throwing in the Luke factor because I'm certain he wouldn't be too pleased that Ryan has one of his siblings or relatives were living in Newport either. Besides I really like this story!  
  
~ TOODLES!! 


	9. By the way, my name is?

Ally sat alone in her room. She couldn't believe she had gone two whole days without a word to Ryan. The last time she had been so angry at him was when he intentionally sat on her sandcastle when she was like seven, so this was a new thing for her.  
  
Ryan poked his blond head into the stark white guest room. Kirsten said they would decorate when they had more time and after her arm healed but that seemed like another few weeks or so. "Still angry?" He asked. "It's been a few days. The only thing you have said to me is 'pass the salt'." He said everything in a sing-song voice.  
  
Ally rolled her eyes and picked up the book that Seth has leant her. It was one of the few books that weren't a comic book, even though they had a long discussion that they were not comic books but graphic novels. Whatever, they are picture books and it didn't matter.  
  
"I'll take that as a yes." Ryan said walking into her room and snatching the book from her hands and sat it on the white night stand. "You are going to have to talk to me eventually."  
  
Ally crossed her arms over her chest. She was going to stay mute to him for as long as possible. He couldn't make her talk if he tried.  
  
Ryan sighed. "Well, Kirsten wanted me to tell you that your mom and Jed signed the papers. You are officially adopted." Ryan bit his lip. "If you want to talk about it, I'm here ok?"  
  
Allison looked up at him. It had been like 4 days since Jed came to 'visit' them. Her mom hadn't even called her. She didn't even say goodbye. Her mom didn't even say I love you. They didn't even say they would miss her or they were glad to be rid of her. It was just a paper, a signature. . .  
  
"Ryan? Do I keep Atwood? Am I still an Atwood or am I a Cohen?" She whispered as Ryan turned to leave.  
  
Ryan turned around and looked at her. Her black eye was turning a yellow colour and was almost gone but the hand print on her arm still looked really bad. He frowned.  
  
"Like, are you a Cohen now? Ryan Cohen? So am I Allison Cohen? Could my mom ever come and take me home? I. . . I don't understand." She stumbled through her sentences. Her thoughts were jumbled together.  
  
Ryan turned around surprised at the sudden panicked questions that spilled from her mouth. He sat on the bed beside her. "I'm still an Atwood. I don't know about you." He said running a hand through his blond hair.  
  
Allison nodded solemnly and got off the bed.  
  
"Where you going?" Ryan asked getting up and watching her walk quietly to the door.  
  
She didn't turn to look at him. "I'm going to get some answers."  
  
Kirsten stood the in kitchen swirling some red wine in a glass. Sandy should have been home by now, but his new job was constantly keeping him late. She wasn't the type, though, to take away what he wanted, and what he loved.  
  
"Kirsten, can you tell me something?"  
  
Kirsten jumped making some of the wine spill over the edge of the glass. She turned to see Allison, who looked almost sheet white. She looked like she was wasting away. Kirsten knew that the young girl wasn't joining them for dinner every night but she didn't know she had stopped eating all together.  
  
"Allison, you look like a ghost!" Kirsten wrapped an arm around her and brought her to a stool gingerly making her sit on it. "Let's get something in you."  
  
Allison shook her head. "No, its ok, I'm not hungry."  
  
Kirsten ignored her pleas and began opening a can of soup.  
  
"No, really, it's ok; I wanted to talk to you about something." Allison said again. "Seriously, stop!"  
  
Kirsten turned around. "We can talk. I'm still making you eat something. Ryan would flip if he found out you died of hunger." She laughed dumping the soup into a pot.  
  
Allison gave up. "What am I?" she finally asked.  
  
Kirsten raised an eyebrow. "Ally, you are a girl. . . I would have thought that your mother went over this with you. . ."  
  
"No! I mean, what am I? Am I a Cohen or an Atwood or; I don't know! I don't know who I am anymore!" Allison said rather frustrated.  
  
Kirsten turned away from the stove. "What do you want to be? Because it's up to you; you know that right? You can be either."  
  
"What if I don't know what I want to be?" Allison whispered to the place mat in front of her, barely audible for Kirsten to hear.  
  
Kirsten turned the stove off and sat beside Allison. "Look, it doesn't matter. You will still be the same person whether you choose Atwood or Cohen. I believe Shakespeare put it best when he said, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Kirsten shrugged and walked back to the stove, turning it back on.  
  
Allison bit her lip. "Did my mom say anything when she signed the papers? Did she send a letter, or anything?"  
  
Kirsten looked down at the soup in the pot in front of her. She wished Allison didn't ask that, anything but that. "Sorry, Sandy didn't tell me if she said anything."  
  
"That means she might have." Allison said hopefully.  
  
Kirsten sighed and ladled the soup into a bowl and put it in front of Allison. "He would have said something if your mom said something about you." She leaned on the island staring at Allison who stared into the soup in front of her.  
  
"I still want to be an Atwood. Ryan's all I got and our dad may not to the greatest guy in the world but it's something we both have." Allison said looking up at Kirsten. "But I want to be a Cohen because I want to belong to a real family."  
  
Kirsten smiled at the girl. "A name doesn't make you part of a family. A family is a group of people who care about you. And I think no matter what you do now, you're stuck with us."  
  
Allison frowned at that statement. "Why would you want me?"  
  
"Because Ryan cares about you and somehow or another within this last week few weeks you made us care about you."  
  
Allison smiled. It was nice to know she was loved for once. She picked up the spoon and took a few bites.  
  
Kirsten smiled. "I always wanted a girl. I love Sandy and the guys but it's going to be nice having another female in this house." Kirsten laughed.  
  
Allison's spoon clattered on the marble countertop. "You aren't going to make me go shopping are you?"  
  
Kirsten sighed. "Just once; I have seen your clothes. The sweaters look like Ryan's."  
  
"Uh. . ." Allison blushed. "What would you do if I told you they were?"  
  
"Ryan! Summer loves me! I told she does, she just wouldn't admit it." Seth smiled as he collapsed beside Ryan on the floor of the pool house.  
  
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Oh God, this again?"  
  
"I had to listen about Marissa when you two weren't going out!" Seth said in defense.  
  
Ryan shot him a look.  
  
"Ok, I made that up and how do you do that!" Seth yelled making Ryan smirk slyly.  
  
Allison crept in the pool house and stretched out on Ryan's bed. "It's a secret Seth. Only the Atwood's know how to do that." She laughed looking over this shoulder at the video game they were playing.  
  
Ryan looked over at her. "I'm guessing you know what you are now."  
  
"She's a girl, Ryan. A girl . . ." Seth replied raising a confused eyebrow at him.  
  
Allison ignored Seth. "Yea, Kirsten and I talked and explained that I'm part of the family and the rest is history."  
  
Seth jumped up onto the bed beside Allison. "That means I'm part of the family." He grinned.  
  
Ryan and Allison shot him a look.  
  
"Stop doing that!" he yelped shivering. "You two are creepy."  
  
Ryan smirked at him and got to his feet quickly. "You guys have to go. Date, Marissa, few minutes, yeah."  
  
"Oh, girlfriend, gotcha." Allison winked at Ryan and pulled Seth off the bed by his arm. "Even out of Chino you're a stud. I would have thought girls here would go for more of a jock than a bad boy here."  
  
Ryan jokingly sneered at her. "Not laughing." He retorted and turned off the TV. "Now out."  
  
Allison and Seth shrugged and walked to the door. "It's nice to know he doesn't laugh at your jokes either." Seth mumbled as Ryan tossed a pillow at them both. "So seeing we're unwanted here; what should he do?" he asked grinning one of his mischievous grins.  
  
"Ok, so how long have you liked Summer?" Allison asked swirling the melting ice in her coke with her straw and looking at Seth innocently.  
  
Seth shifted uncomfortably in the seat he took across from her. "Ok how did this conversation turn from your life before coming here, to my life and Summer?" he asked raising a suspicious eyebrow to her.  
  
"Don't question my ways! Just answer the question." Allison grinned and sipped her drink in front of her.  
  
"Let's say since I stopped believing girls have cooties." Seth said running a hand through his curly hair.  
  
Allison rolled her eyes. "Very vague; for all I know that could have been in grade seven."  
  
"It was not in grade seven, besides how would you know; you're like twelve." Seth said in his defense.  
  
"I'm fifteen thank you very much and I would know, I'm more mature then you would think, Mr. Seth -I-have-liked-the-same-girl-since-I-was-in-preschool- Cohen." Allison shot back at him.  
  
Seth rolled up his sleeves and rested his elbows on the table. "I can't believe I'm having this conversation with a girl who probably hasn't has a serious boyfriend yet."  
  
"Look whose talking. Besides I don't do the whole 'boyfriend/girlfriend' relationship thing. I would rather, play the field, you know."  
  
Seth threw his hands up in defeat. "What is wrong with people in Chino?! Do you guys like escaping out of windows or something?"  
  
"What? Oh my God, you just didn't . . . ew . . ." Allison said frowning into her drink.  
  
"You mean you're a . . ."  
  
"Even though it's none of you're business, yeah." Allison said shivering trying to rid herself of the memory of Seth even considering she wasn't. "Look at me! I'm fifteen. You didn't when you were fifteen; did you? Like ok, we are so not talking about this anymore." Allison pushed her drink away from her. "And F.Y.I. Seth; playing the field does not mean having sex."  
  
"I didn't say you did." Seth said in his defense.  
  
Allison shot an unsympathetic glare at him. "It was implied."  
  
"I implied nothing." He frowned but everything he said was contradicted by his cheeks turning a slight pink.  
  
"Uh huh." Allison said rolling her eyes and getting up from the table. "I think we ought to be getting back before I learn something about you I don't want to know."  
  
"So, how is Allison doing?" Marissa said softly kissing Ryan's lips and wrapping her arms around his neck.  
  
Ryan looked at her and frowned. "Why are you thinking about my sister right now?"  
  
Marissa smiled; letting her arms fall and one of her hands rest in Ryan's. "Because, Allison looked pretty angry when you came up and told Luke off, and I wouldn't want to see you guys still not talking."  
  
"If I tell you can we not talk about anyone but us?" Ryan pouted and smiled devilishly, but sighed when Marissa raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "She's fine. She was a little touchy at first and a little confused but she's ok."  
  
Marissa grinned triumphantly. "Good. I'm glad because Luke is awfully sorry about that night."  
  
Ryan's grin dropped from his face. "Luke?" he questioned. "What did he want?"  
  
"He left a message on my machine. He said he was sorry about that and he didn't mean it. He said he was a little drunk and she had the right to hit him." Marissa smiled innocently.  
  
Ryan scowled at the ground. "Of course she had the right to hit him. I don't like him."  
  
"I know, and I don't like him much either, but it looks like we are going to have to go to the same school together and we are going to have to live with him and I don't think the Cohen's want anymore fights, whether it be you or Allison." Marissa explained.  
  
Ryan looked at her emotionless. "I won't hit him; I just can't promise Allison won't."  
  
Marissa smirked. "Well she'll have to try."  
  
Ryan smiled. "Allison holds a bigger grudge than I do. For all I know she may beat him up when I'm not looking."  
  
Marissa stopped smiling. "Then we'll have to watch her carefully."  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
A/N: Ok I don't have any clue where I'm going with this story so I need help! I'm babbling on and on and I don't know where to stop, which worries me. So Review and give me an idea! I'm really really really really stuck!!  
  
~TOODLES!!! 


	10. Blackmail and Unexpected Surprises

"Summer! No!"  
  
Summer rolled her eyes a Marissa and continued to rummage through her closet. "Yes we are going to Holly's party and that's final."  
  
"Summer, don't you remember TJ? Holly and Luke together, dancing and me; running out of the club? Does any of this ring a bell or have you completely blocked it out of your memory!" Marissa yelled at her angrily.  
  
Summer grinned at the skirt that she had just pulled out of the closet and tossed it onto the bed. "Of course I remember it. But you are with Chino boy and you need to prove to these people that you don't care what Luke does now." Summer looked over at Marissa, grinning mischievously. "That and you could make him completely jealous, which is always fun."  
  
Marissa shook her head. "Even if I wanted to go, Ryan wouldn't and I'm not going without him."  
  
Summer laughed shaking her dark hair out of her eyes. "Don't worry; I've got Cohen on it."  
  
"Please!"  
  
"No."  
  
"Come on Ry! Think about it, Summer and me. Do it for me dude! Please!" Seth pleaded following Ryan around the pool.  
  
"No. If it's Summer and you; you don't need me." Ryan stated opening the door to the pool house and walking in.  
  
Seth sighed and collapsed onto one of the couches. "No, you don't understand. There is a catch with this whole Summer-thing." Seth replied waving his arm dramatically. "She asked me to go, and she'll only go if Marissa goes and Marissa will only go if you go so this all depends on you. My theoretical love life is in your hands. Come on!"  
  
"No." Ryan said walking towards the washroom only to find the door closed. "This is why it is never good to have a sister." He murmured.  
  
Allison quickly opened the door wearing a pair of cut off shorts and a huge T-shirt. "I heard that big brother." She frowned and walked over to Ryan's bed and sat down. "What is Seth whining about now?"  
  
"I was not whining." Seth interjected before Ryan got a word in; crossing his arms. "He wants me to go to some party so he can go with Summer." Ryan loosely explained. "And what are you wearing?"  
  
Allison rolled her eyes at the comment. "Kirsten took me shopping today."  
  
"Yikes." Seth replied looking her up and down. "You look like you would fit in."  
  
Allison shot him a look that could kill. "Don't even start with me." She spat making Ryan laugh at the terrified look on Seth's face. "You want my help don't you?"  
  
"Help?"  
  
Allison nodded and walked over to Ryan who was leaning against a wall. "Go to the party or I will tell him about the time you . . ." Allison cupped her hands around Ryan's ear making his coy smile drop off his face.  
  
"You wouldn't." Ryan gasped as his cheeks became a flushed color.  
  
Allison shrugged and walked out of the pool house. "I don't know; maybe."  
  
Ryan swallowed and ran a nervous shaking hand through his blond hair. "We're going to a party tonight."  
  
Ryan sat by the pool looking down into the water gazing at his distorted reflection. The smell of chorine filled the air around him. He wished Allison didn't have that much power over him. Him and his stupid past; that girl knew way too much about him.  
  
He quickly got up in hopes of finding something to do before this stupid party his sister had blackmailed him into going to. He stopped at the glass door staring in at Allison who was sitting on the island with her back to him talking on the phone. Who could she be talking to? If she was conspiring with Summer and Seth he wasn't sure what he was going to do. He opened the door a tiny crack, just to hear her loud conversation.  
  
"I know; I couldn't believe that!" She giggled into the phone.  
  
Whoa, that was weird. Allison definitely wasn't the type to giggle. Who the hell was she talking to?  
  
She sighed. "Look; don't worry. I'll make it to the party no matter what, even if I have to hitch a ride with someone around here."  
  
Ryan stepped inside carefully. Since when was Allison going to Holly's party? She must be talking to Summer. He thought quietly closing the door behind him.  
  
"No. He was last month. It's Kurt now." Allison replied frustrated; her hand went to her temple.  
  
Kurt? Ryan thought angrily. He knew Kurt, some bad ass guy that was all over some of the girls at his old high school. He was definitely not touching Allison. Ryan quietly crept behind Allison, leaning against the countertop.  
  
Allison scoffed. "Yeah Ryan doesn't know a thing. So I'll be back in Chino round 5 okay? You know where to pick me up. Okay I better go; Ryan will catch me or something. Later Charlie. Yea, ok, Bye!" Allison shook her head as she hung up the phone.  
  
"He already has." Ryan said in monotone.  
  
Allison jumped and spun around, her eyes wide and scared. "Ryan; what did you hear?" she angrily demanded slamming the phone onto the countertop.  
  
"Enough." He shrugged, walking around the countertop. "You're going to be back in Chino by 5?"  
  
Allison smiled innocently. "It's just a party Ryan. I've been to them before."  
  
"With Kurt."  
  
Allison frowned. "It's just Kurt, no big deal."  
  
"You aren't going. The guy is a jerk and you know it." Ryan said picking the phone off the counter and placing it back into the cradle.  
  
"I want to see my friends one last time." Allison yelled at him as he turned toward the living room.  
  
Ryan turned to her. "Yeah and we'll never see you again, think again."  
  
"Yeah, like your friends never saw you again." Allison murmured as she stomped towards the stairs.  
  
Seth got up from the couch and sat the controller on the table in front of him. "That . . . did not sound good."  
  
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Thank you Captain Obvious."  
  
"An hour and that's it." Marissa threatened Summer as they closed in on the front door.  
  
Summer rolled her eyes as her fingers gingerly grabbed the doorknob. "An hour, I swear."  
  
The door was whipped open before Summer turned it.  
  
"Cooper, Roberts, Cohen and . . . Chino." Holly said; her eyes glanced at each one of them, judging them as she went along.  
  
"You do know his last name isn't Chino." Summer spat brushing past Holly who frowned at her.  
  
"So, Allison." Sandy said staring at the girl who sat by the pool staring at the horizon in front of her.  
  
Allison turned around and looked at him. "Mr. Cohen." She barely acknowledged his presence as she turned to sunset.  
  
"You're going to be living here; I think you can call me Sandy now."  
  
Allison nodded, her eyes not moving from where they were.  
  
Sandy bit his lip wondering what to do. He had a son. He had a foster son. But a girl, that was a completely different story. He shook his head. He had no idea how to deal with a girl. He didn't even have any sisters. He sat down beside her staring out at the horizon with her.  
  
"Is there something you want?" Allison said glancing over at him.  
  
Sandy turned to her. "I know this is weird. I honestly have no clue how to deal with a girl. This is completely new to me. So you're going to have to help me out here."  
  
Allison scoffed. "You think I know. I've never had a real dad before. So, I think we are basically in the same boat here."  
  
"Oh, okay then." Sandy replied shifting uncomfortably. "Ok, how about we start with; why aren't you at that party that the other teens of this house went to?"  
  
Allison smirked and looked over at him. "Do you want it sugar-coated?"  
  
"I think you ought to sugar-coat it." Sandy frowned.  
  
Allison laughed. "I don't like this Luke kid too much."  
  
Sandy shook his head and rubbed his forehead with his hand. "You hit him didn't you?" Allison got up and brushed off her shorts. "Maybe."  
  
"Ok, it's been an hour, can we go now?" Marissa whined to Summer; who had grabbed a red plastic cup and was making her way to the keg.  
  
Summer smiled. "Give us a few more minutes. Luke said; Ryan and he are going to work out their differences." Summer said giggling giddily, signaling she was drunk.  
  
Marissa's jaw dropped. "Gimme that." She said snatching the cup full of beer out of Summer's hand. "That usually means they are going to fight. Come on, we are finding Seth and Ryan and we are leaving."  
  
Summer sighed. "Ok, I'll find Cohen, you save Chino."  
  
Marissa nodded and made her way through the crowd before a hot and heavy hand rested on her shoulder making her turn around in surprise.  
  
"Luke."  
  
Luke weakly smiled. "Marissa, I wanted to talk to you privately."  
  
Marissa shook his hand off her shoulder. "Can we talk later, I'm looking for someone?"  
  
Luke licked his lips in frustration. "Chino is fine. He's outside by the cars, smoking."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Luke bit his lip and walked her to the door. "Look, Marissa, I'm sorry, about everything. It was all my fault and you shouldn't have had to deal with all that."  
  
Marissa looked up at him. "You're right, it was your fault."  
  
"I know you're with Ch--- Ryan . . ." he said, watching his words as he spoke. "I at least want to be your friend."  
  
Marissa's eyes locked on his.  
  
"Come on Coop, let's get out of here. Help me with Cohen." Summer laughed as Cohen leaned on her, obvious that he was drunk also. "Oh Luke."  
  
Luke looked over at her and Seth and snorted. "Here let me help." He said throwing Seth's arm over his shoulder, taking Seth's weight off of Summer and walking him out the door.  
  
Marissa and Summer exchanged looks and followed him outside where Ryan and Luke stood looking each other over. Ryan nodded and opened the Range Rover's door and snatching the keys from Seth's hand. With the help of Luke, they quickly piled him into the car.  
  
Luke stepped back and walked back toward the party.  
  
Marissa squeezed Ryan's hand and smiled at him.  
  
"That was different." Summer commented as she got into the back with Seth. "No bloodshed, no punches thrown; a good change."  
  
Ryan quietly walked into the house with Seth drunkenly mumbling into his ear. He quietly tip toed up the stairs hoping Seth wouldn't make any noises.  
  
"What happened to Seth?" Allison whispered coming out of her room, staring at Ryan who was shaking his head.  
  
Ryan got Seth into his room as Allison quietly followed.  
  
"Well?" Allison said tapping her foot as she closed the door behind her.  
  
Ryan shook his head. "What does he look?"  
  
"Drunk. That's good." She laughed shaking her head. "If Kirsten finds out . . ."  
  
Ryan nodded. "She'll kill him then kill me. I got it." Ryan whispered looking over at Seth who had immediately fallen asleep in his bed. "You should go to bed too."  
  
"Seth? Seth! Wake up!"  
  
Seth awoke with a start. His head throbbed and immediately he regretted those last . . . few . . . drinks. He replied with a mumble.  
  
"Seth."  
  
He opened his eyes a crack and saw Allison who was sitting beside him on his bed. "Allison, I have a major hang-over, so can this wait?" he grumbled.  
  
"No. Do you mind?" Allison whispered laying beside him her eyes locking with his.  
  
Seth eyed her suspiciously. "Do I mind what?"  
  
"I just want to talk." She smiled and leaned over him.  
  
Seth nodded. "Ok, but if we do, do you have to sit like that?"  
  
"I have to." She whispered, her face getting closer and closer to his.  
  
"Oh."  
  
Her lips caressed his, making his headache become the least of his troubles. His eyes fluttered closed and within a second it was over, leaving him dumbstruck. He felt her body lie beside him facing the ceiling.  
  
"Uh . . . What was that for?" He finally managed out.  
  
"I wanted to see how you kissed." She replied nonchalantly.  
  
Seth shook his head. "Oh. And . . ."  
  
Allison laughed. "I thought it would be more like the guys in Chino. You know, really forceful, but it wasn't."  
  
"Well I am kind of hung over right now." He replied.  
  
Allison looked over at him and laughed. "It wasn't bad, it was just . . . different. Good . . . but different."  
  
Seth's eyes flew to the ceiling. "Ryan is going to kill me."  
  
Allison quickly kissed his cheek. "Don't worry, I won't tell him. He would kill me too." She reached to his bedside table and placed a pill into his hand. "Take that and have a shower. You'll feel better."  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
A/N: Yeah, still not sure where I'm going with this; so reviews would be helpful. I'm not completely sure what I'm doing with Seth and Allison, so help there could help and there will be some major tension with the Luke, Marissa, Ryan thing. So review because I seriously need some help here.  
  
REVIEW!!!!  
  
~ TOODLES! 


	11. No Probably Whispering Right?

Ryan immerged from the kitchen in hopes of talking to Allison before she went out for her morning run. It was some weird thing that she had begun doing when she started high school. He had asked her about it once but she sort of brushed it off saying it was for track, even though they both knew she wouldn't be caught dead on a team. He walked up the stairs silently and looked into her room; first door on the right. Empty, she must have left, he thought to himself.  
  
"I have to."  
  
He turned. The voice that said that was Allison's but he wasn't quite sure where it came from, and it wasn't loud at all, it was like a whisper or something.  
  
"Oh."  
  
That was Seth. He could tell by Seth's voice that he was groggy and not quite sure what was going on. He quickly tip toed over to Seth's room, right across the hall and pushed the door open slightly more.  
  
Ryan's eyes widened as he witnessed what was going on. He rubbed his eyes. They didn't just kiss. That was his innocent little sister and that was Seth, who had basically no experience when it came to girls and basically lucked out when a blond bombshell was dropped into his lap at Cotillion, even though he hadn't seen her at school yet; on that trip still.  
  
He looked into the room. They were just talking really close. Yea, Allison was probably whispering something about his past; giving Seth something to hold over his head for like the rest of eternity, like that one time he accidentally blew up the science lab, well they never proved it wasn't an accident.  
  
"Ryan is going to kill me."  
  
He ran down the steps as quickly and quietly as possible. He wasn't the type to spy on people, but he knew that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. His sister just kissed his best friend; the closest thing he had ever had to a brother, well there was Trey, but well the whole jail thing, whatever. Or was it the other way around; Seth had been the one who said that he was going to kill him. Maybe Seth came onto Ally.  
  
Gross. Ok, no offence to Seth, because he is a really nice guy, but he didn't think it was possible for Seth to come onto a girl, or even try to seduce one. That guy had no clue what he was doing. Usually he became a bumbling idiot around girls, especially around Summer and Anna. But Jesus, his sister!  
  
Gross. Ok, no offence to Ally, because she was the sweetest girl ever and he loved her to death, but gross. Now he was sounding more and more like Summer. Allison was pretty and all, but Ryan just couldn't picture a guy, especially Seth with his sister. It wasn't like he expected Allison to become a nun or something, it was just that he was hoping she wouldn't like, like a guy until she was twenty-ish or he was away, where he didn't have to deal with it.  
  
He popped out of his thoughts as he heard Allison's feet made muffled noises as she crept down the stairs. She tip toed toward the kitchen.  
  
She quickly looked up. "Oh, hi Ryan." She smiled and continued to the door. "What are you doing up?"  
  
He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes, trying to convey the message that he knew. Oh, he knew. He waited for her response staring into her hazel eyes.  
  
"Ryan, that's really creepy. Stop staring at me like that." She replied shivering; opening the fridge only to find dozens of glass water bottles. "Haven't they heard of plastic before? Water is water; I don't think we need a designer label."  
  
Ok, so conveying that message wasn't going so well, but he definitely wasn't losing his touch, maybe it was just too early in the morning to do that. "Ally we need to talk."  
  
She reached into the fridge and opened a bottle with ease. "Ok then, this doesn't sound good." She brought the bottle to her lips, but quickly set it on the counter. "I didn't go to that party if that's what you're thinking. You can ask Mr. . . . Sandy. We were talking until like eleven."  
  
Ryan shook his head. "It's not about the party, although it's a good thing you didn't go." Ryan looked her in the eyes seriously trying to convey the message of 'Seth' this time.  
  
"Stop looking at me like that. That is really stalker-ish." She said shivering again.  
  
"It's about Seth." Ryan breathed, trying to be as silent as possible, listening for any movement in the house. He knew that Kirsten usually got up early to make coffee and Sandy was usually not too far behind to drink the coffee, making Kirsten have to make a second pot by the time he usually got up.  
  
Allison smiled and made her way to the sliding glass door. "I won't tell the Cohen's about him getting drunk. It's our little secret." She laughed. "Oh and do you mind if I borrow one of your grey sweater shirts? Kirsten bought me some work out clothes, but they are like dry clean only. What is with that?"  
  
Ryan shook it off. "Don't care. But it's not about Seth being drunk. It's about this morning." He followed Allison was she walked past the pool.  
  
Allison's eyebrows went up. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"I saw."  
  
Allison's face went from confused to upset. "Eavesdropping is a really bad habit Ryan."  
  
"I was not eavesdropping. I was overhearing." He replied defending himself. "Besides Seth is like almost 18. It's almost illegal and I'm not sure the Cohen's would be too pleased about it."  
  
Allison rolled her eyes. "This coming from the guy who stole a car; a lecture on ethics."  
  
Ryan frowned. "Must you throw that in my face every time Ally?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well how long until you stop." He replied through his teeth. Allison really knew how to push his buttons sometimes.  
  
Allison put her hands on her hips. "I don't know. How long until you stop butting into my life?" She turned and walked into the pool house, grabbing a clean, fresh sweat shirt off the couch.  
  
Ryan stomped his way into the pool house and closed the door behind him in hopes of holding in their possible yells at each other. It was 5:30; people were still sleeping around here. "You came into mine and now your life is part of my business. So now my business includes every guy you kiss, date, whatever and your well being."  
  
"I would have thought you would approve of Seth, Ryan. If you don't like him, maybe I'll just go find Luke, he seemed pretty lonely." She yell- whispered back at him.  
  
Ryan stood in front of the door, blocking her way out. She couldn't leave if she wanted to. "I like Seth and all, but he is three years older than you." He calmly explained.  
  
Allison gave Ryan a 'yeah right' look. "You and I both know that he doesn't have that much experience in girls."  
  
"That . . . is very true." Ryan said actually considering what Allison had said. "But it would become very very very awkward if something between you happened around here."  
  
Allison rolled her eyes again. "You think I don't know that? I'm not planning on doing anything to him." She said maneuvering herself past Ryan and out the door. She quickly slipped on the sleeves of Ryan's huge swear shirt and zipped it up slightly. "I just want to mess with his head, just a little."  
  
Seth lied in his bed staring at the ceiling, replaying the last few moments in his brain. Stop. . . Rewind . . . Play . . . Stop . . . He kept coming back to this one thing Ally had said. He didn't kiss like the guys in Chino. Just the look in her eyes as she said that. It was like she was glad that he didn't. He wondered why. Allison wasn't the type to let a guy do whatever he wanted to her right? She was the only girl who actually had the guts to hit Luke. Sure he saw Summer hit Luke once or twice but never with a closed fist.  
  
For once he wondered what Allison's past was like. Why did she have to learn how to punch a guy? Why did she look so relieved when she told him that? But the question that stood out in his mind was; why didn't she ever try to defend herself again Jed. He wasn't sure if he would ask her; he didn't know if he had the right to.  
  
"Seth?" Ryan's quiet whisper immerged from behind his door. Seth decided to pretend to be asleep; that way he wouldn't get the third degree on why he was up so early. It wasn't like he could say; oh you know, kissing your little sister who you are very protective of. He could hear Ryan's socked feet making muffled thumps on his floor. "Seth, I know you're up."  
  
Seth still played asleep moving slightly and making a sleepy grumble in response. He heard Ryan's footsteps leave his room. Seth shook his head and sat up. Thank God that was over.  
  
"Caught you!" Ryan's head poked back into his room grinning. "You do realize you aren't good at pretending to be asleep."  
  
Seth cursed under his breath. He laughed trying to hide the discomfort in his voice. "Yeah . . ."  
  
Ryan nodded and sat in his computer chair. "Seth . . ." Seth looked at Ryan's face and stare, they were completely blank.  
  
He swallowed nervously and plastered on a fake smile. "I'm ready for coffee. You?" Seth got up from his bed and ran down the steps noisily, in hopes of waking his parents up. If Ryan was going to kill him, he wanted witnesses.  
  
Seth absent-mindedly rummaged through the cupboards. So he had never actually made coffee before, if couldn't be that hard. His mom could and she could mess up a sandwich. Ryan walked into the room and Seth immediately went for a knife.  
  
"Whoa, dude. You don't need a knife to make coffee; you aren't carving the Thanksgiving Turkey here." Ryan joked taking the knife from his hands and placing it back into the drawer.  
  
Seth laughed again. "Yeah . . . I thought the pods needed to be grounded."  
  
Ryan's eyebrows went up. "Beans, not pods; besides, your parents buy pre- ground, not to mention you don't need a knife to grind coffee."  
  
"How do you know this?" Seth replied shaking his head.  
  
Ryan shrugged. "I worked in a coffee shop for about a week." He turned to the coffee maker and flipped the switch. "Besides you don't really need coffee, you're really jumpy already. You got something you want to tell me?"  
  
"No." Seth's voice jumped three octaves. "Why . . ." Seth coughed a few times making his voice go back to normal. "Why would I have anything to say to you? I mean you are living here, it just I'm not hiding anything from you, and if I did I would tell you because you would understand if I did and you would listen to my whole story right? Even if it was something that you probably wouldn't like, right? Like because we're close and you wouldn't want to hurt me. Like even when you first came here you beat up a few guys when they were beating up me and you wouldn't want to hurt me, right? Like we have become close, almost brotherl . . ."  
  
"Seth; stop!!!" Ryan said rubbing his forehead. "It's too early in the morning for you to be talking that fast."  
  
Seth nodded swallowing, although the lump in his throat built up.  
  
"Besides, you don't have to worry I already know."  
  
Seth's eyes widened. "You already know . . . what exactly?"  
  
Ryan rolled his eyes. "I saw, you idiot."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Ryan shrugged. "I'm not worried about you. You have enough women troubles. I'm worried about my sister."  
  
"Hey Seth." Allison said as she walked into the kitchen after her morning run. Seth and Ryan sat at the counter eating bowls of cereal. She rolled her eyes at Ryan and unzipped the sweat shirt she was wearing.  
  
Seth smiled awkwardly and his eyes fell upon the bowl of milk in front of him. "Allison."  
  
Allison reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, murmuring about stupid name brands again. She looked over at him. "Is something wrong?"  
  
Ryan glared at her.  
  
Allison rolled her eyes again. "Good ol' Ryan; protecting me from myself. Oh, Ryan help me . . . I don't know what's good and evil." Allison said sarcastically, closing the fridge door and dramatically throwing a hand over her forehead and sliding down the cool silvery doors. "Seth's lips are poison and I don't think I will live much longer. Oh, please Ryan, the knight in tarnished armor, help little ol' confused me!"  
  
Seth shrugged pouring more cereal into his bowl. "She's more sarcastic than me."  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
A/N: Ok, I still have NO clue where I'm going with this so HELP!! I feel like Seth! I keep talking and just can't shut up!! Jk I LOVE Seth . . . He's cool and hott . . . *blushes*  
  
REVIEW!! Please!!  
  
~Toodles! 


	12. Getting Caught in the Rain

Seth looked down at Allison who was still sitting on the floor with her back to the fridge. She glared icy cold stares at him, which he would normally be used to, seeing Summer used to do that whenever he saw her in the hall, but Allison's stares were like ten of Summer's, with like super powers. "You're going to have to talk to him eventually without being that sarcastic." He stated looking out to the pool house where Ryan was blowing off some steam. Actually, it looked more like one of Summer's rage blackouts, but whatever.  
  
"I don't need your advice right now Seth. I'm fine, it's Ryan, he's a jerk and we all know it." Allison spat, getting up off the floor and staring Seth in the eyes. She shook her head and snorted. "If only you have seen him before. You wouldn't think he was all that great."  
  
Seth bit his lip as Allison stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room.  
  
"Seth you ok?"  
  
Seth looked up from his corn pops to his mother's face. He pushed his bowl away and shrugged. "Yeah I'm fine."  
  
Kirsten half smiled. "I know this is going to be hard, especially on Allison, but we are just going to be there for her." She whispered and poured herself a cup of coffee.  
  
Seth nodded as he got up from the stool. If only his mom really knew what was going on.  
  
Marissa walked up to the pool house. It didn't look as welcoming as it usually did. For one thing, the blinds were completely closed. This was California, the sun always shone and the only reason why people bought blinds was for decoration. Since when did Ryan ever close the blinds? She quietly tapped on the glass door and opened it silently. "Ryan? Ryan, are you in here?" she asked of no one in particular. She shrugged and walked to the windows and began opening the blinds letting the Californian sun stream into the dark room.  
  
The bathroom door swung open and Ryan opened the door, his blond hair dripping. "Hey Marissa."  
  
Marissa jumped and spun around. "You scared me." She grinned but her smile was soon wiped away, realizing Ryan's smirk wasn't there to welcome her as usual. She shifted uncomfortably, which was a first; the only time she was uncomfortable around Ryan was when they were angry at each other. She cleared her throat. "What's with the blinds?"  
  
Ryan shrugged and walked to one of the couched and collapsed. "I didn't want to see the house."  
  
Marissa frowned and walked to another window. "Oh, did you and Seth get into a fight or something? Do you want to talk about it?"  
  
"No and no."  
  
Marissa swallowed. Ryan was really moody and he was usually quiet but never this short with her. "Ok, do you want to do something today? I was supposed to be meeting Summer, but she has a major hangover from last night, so I was thinking you, me, Seth and All . . ."  
  
Ryan shot her a look stopping her in her tracks.  
  
"Ok, spill. Something is up and I can't deal with you being an ass about it all day. So tell me or I can go." Marissa said putting her hands on her hips.  
  
Ryan got up and walked out of the pool house leaving her standing there. Marissa rolled her eyes. "That went perfect."  
  
Seth began looking through old copies of Legion. Ryan was still trapped in the pool house as far as he knew, and Allison had yelled through the house that she was out running again. Normally, he might have gone with her on his skateboard but he was pretty tired and the look on her face as she slammed the front door basically screamed 'follow me and die'.  
  
Three taps on his door interrupted his scanning of the graphic novels in front of him. His eyes went to the door where Marissa stood leaning against his doorframe. "Hey." He frowned.  
  
Marissa's eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying and he definitely wasn't the person she went to when she began crying, that was Ryan or Summer's job. Seth could never deal with a girl crying. It always made him feel bad himself, that's why he never liked games when it came to love, someone would either end up hurt or crying. She licked her chapped lips that curved into a small smile. "Hey." She whispered back.  
  
Seth couldn't stand watching her hide her emotions like that. Maybe it was being so damn close to his mom. Those stupid chick flicks she made him or his dad watch ever so often. All that touchy feely, I love you; let's be together forever no matter what everyone else says, crap.  
  
"It's Ryan." She sniffed as she walked over to his bed and collapsed. Her head fell into her hands. "He won't tell me anything anymore."  
  
Seth shook his head and sat beside her; patting her back. He had never been in his situation. "It's not you. Ryan is having some major disagreement with his sister." He explained.  
  
Marissa sighed exasperated. "Yeah, but I want to help him. I have a sister; I know what it's like."  
  
Seth laughed. "No, you don't. Caitlyn, compared to Allison, is an angel. I think they have to sort this out themselves."  
  
"What are you talking about? Caitlyn isn't an angel. And I could help, I understand girls, seeing I am one." Marissa said looking over at Seth.  
  
Seth rolled his eyes. "Allison, in Ryan's eyes right now, is like the spawn of Satan. Besides, I don't think he sees Ally as a girl. More like a . . ." Seth looked into space searching for a word. "I don't know, but he probably thinks no one could possibly understand what is going through her head right now, because he doesn't get it."  
  
"When do you think they will be okay again?" Marissa said wiping her eyes.  
  
Seth's eyes widened. "At this rate, I would say about . . . six months to three years."  
  
Allison stormed into the house completely soaked to the bone. Her mood matched the rainstorm outside. Her arms wrapped around her body in hopes of keeping herself warm but it was no use.  
  
Seth trudged down the stairs and looked down at her, refusing to make a noise. He immediately ran back to his room as she turned towards the stairs. He was going to avoid another verbal confrontation with her at all costs, but he as still wanted to know what she was doing.  
  
Silently he edged to her door knowing that it didn't stay shut properly and looked in. She sat on the bed and was holding a phone in her hands. She was contemplating calling someone, like against her better judgment. She shook her head and got up.  
  
"Seth." She said dropping the phone onto her bed. "I know you're there."  
  
Rain poured down around him as Ryan ran down the streets. It was going to take another half hour before he actually got back to the Cohen's house. He slowed down and shook his head. Allison and him were supposed to be the closest siblings ever. So why the hell did they have to fight so often.  
  
The noise of a car behind him made his head turn. The black truck slowed beside him and the window was rolled down. Ryan shivered as a raindrop ran down his neck.  
  
Luke eyes scanned him as if he were trying to read his mind. "Get in."  
  
Normally Ryan would have told him to keep driving but these were special circumstances. He was cold, wet and angry which right now wasn't helping much. He nodded and hopped into it. This was the second time Luke picked him up off the side of the road. He was hoping this wouldn't become a habit.  
  
Seconds ticked away like hours and the silence of the truck didn't help any. Luke's knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel tightly. "What were you doing out there?" Luke finally asked getting one of his hands off the steering wheel; his eyes darted from the road to Ryan.  
  
Ryan shook his head. "Sister problems; you wouldn't understand."  
  
"You think you know everything about me Chino?" Luke spat his eyes darting back to the road. "I have a sister; she's in Maine right now, boarding school."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Luke shrugged. "What kind of problems?"  
  
Ryan scoffed. "Now you wouldn't understand. My sister wants to go back to Chino to visit some of our old friends."  
  
They quickly pulled into the Cohen's driveway. "You got me there Atwood. But sometimes you can't tell your siblings what to do; they have to make their own mistakes."  
  
Ryan got out of the truck and looked back at Luke. "I can't let her make my mistakes."  
  
Kirsten smiled as Ryan ran from the pool house to the main house. It was odd how stormy it was right now. He acknowledged her presence with a nod as he walked into the kitchen. "Feeling any better after your walk?" She flipped the page to her newspaper  
  
Ryan rolled his eyes. "No. How was Allison?"  
  
Kirsten shrugged. "Not too good I think. She walked in, went to her room, came down here made a quick call and said she was going to her new friend's house. Chris or Curtis or something; said he lived just outside of Newport."  
  
Ryan shrugged and walked to the fridge. He reached in and stopped in his tracks. "You mean Kurt?" He asked calmly.  
  
Kirsten nodded. "Yes that's it. You know him?"  
  
Ryan swallowed the nervous lump in this throat. "Kind of . . . where's Seth?"  
  
Kirsten continued reading her paper. "Upstairs I think."  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
A/N: Ok, that was really hard to write so it's probably really crappy. As I said before I won't write anymore ages until I'm absolutely sure how old Ryan is so . . . SORRY ABOUT THAT!! My bad!  
  
REVIEW!!!  
  
~Toodles!! 


	13. At least no one got Shot!

"Seth!!" Ryan yelled whipping open his door and slamming it quickly. "I need your help!"  
  
Seth sat up in his bed and crossed his arms. "Everyone seems to today; first Marissa, now you. Should I just have a sign on my door that says free advice?"  
  
Ryan shot a serious look and continued. "Allison is missing again."  
  
"Again?" Seth said swinging his legs over the side of his bed and frowned. "What do you mean again? Do you mean we don't know where in Orange County she went or where in the state of California that she went?"  
  
"She is in Chino and she is at one of the houses on my old block." Ryan stated nodding his head.  
  
Seth shrugged. "Then she isn't missing then. You know where she is and she is safe."  
  
Ryan shot a frustrated glare at him. "That's the thing Seth, she isn't safe."  
  
"So what you want to go to one of the houses in Chino, where you used to live and go pick her up? That could be pretty hard, how are we going to know which house it is?" Seth said biting his lip.  
  
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Chino and Newport aren't different when it comes to parties. One specific person almost always throws the house parties. They are just slightly more cheep and you usually steal the drinks from anyone."  
  
"You mean there is basically a Chino Holly?" Seth said raising his eyebrows in surprise.  
  
"That's beside the point Seth. I'm calling Luke." Ryan said reaching for the phone.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa; Luke, the water polo playing jerk off that cheated on Marissa in Tijuana? That Luke? Why would you be calling him?" Seth said grabbing the phone and pulling it close to him.  
  
Ryan licked his lips. "If Kurt is going to do what I think he is going to do, which is almost always does, he isn't going to give my sister up without a fight. And I hate to admit it but Seth, we right now could use a water polo jerk right now."  
  
Luke looked over at Ryan who was driving with a rather worried expression on his face.  
  
"I swear to God Chino, if I get shot again . . ."  
  
Ryan looked over at him. "You won't. Most of the guys here like to use their hands."  
  
"That makes me feel better." Seth said from the back sarcastically. "Is it just me or has your entire life past before your eyes?"  
  
Ryan shook his head. "Seth . . ."  
  
"Got it, not appropriate; I'm stopping."  
  
Their eyes fell upon the street that was completely unlit except for one house. The bass from the music blasted their eardrums from the curb. A steady stream of teens around their age flowed in and out of the house going from sober to drunk.  
  
Seth shifted in the backseat. "Oh yea, we can just blend in. Get in get out, pretty simple. I'll wait here."  
  
Luke turned around staring Seth in the eyes intimidating him to get out.  
  
"Ok; looks like everyone is learning something from Ryan here." Seth mumbled as he hopped out of the Rover.  
  
Ryan looked around taking it all in. It had been a while since he had actually gone to one of these parties. "Ok, here's the deal. We stick together, don't take any drinks and don't talk to anyone. We'll find Ally and we're out of here."  
  
Seth and Luke nodded in agreement; both wanted to be out of there.  
  
"Ry!" Some guy from the house yelled. "Hey guys look! It's Ryan! He's back from the dead!"  
  
"Shit." Ryan cursed under his breath and began walking towards the house with Luke and Seth not too far behind him. As they stepped in the door the guy that called stepped in front of them.  
  
"Ryan, dude. Where you been? You're entire family like disappeared. Trey in jail, and Dawn she like, got out of here." The guy grinned. He ran a hand through his dark hair and his grey eyes glared at Luke and Seth. "Who are the preppies Ryan?"  
  
Ryan shrugged. "Friends. You've seen my sister, Chuck?"  
  
The guy or "Chuck" as Ryan put it nodded. "Yeah. You know she called a few days ago. She is around here someplace."  
  
Ryan nodded and scanned the small living room with his eyes looking past the guy in front of him. Ryan looked back at Luke and Seth and shook his head.  
  
"What do you want with her?" Chuck asked suspiciously eying all three of them.  
  
Ryan frowned at him. "Ally is my little sister. I just want to know where she is."  
  
Luke rolled his eyes and pushed past Chuck and into the crowd followed by Seth and Ryan.  
  
Luke looked around the kitchen as Ryan and Seth entered. "Jesus, this is worse than some of Holly's parties." He yelled over the music being blasted all around them. A few girls were half passed out leaning against the walls.  
  
Ryan bent down to look them in the face. He yelled something in one girl's ear barely getting a response. He stood up and looked around the room. "It looks like they are passing something out around here."  
  
Seth licked his lips as his eyes moved around the room from passed out girl to another. "Like what?"  
  
Ryan swallowed quickly. "Roofies; maybe. Come on. Let's find her."  
  
Seth bit his cheek nervously. They had been at this party for close to an hour. It was a pretty small house and they still hadn't found Ally. He didn't want to say anything but maybe she wasn't here. Maybe it was some other party she went to. Hell maybe she did actually, by chance meet a guy named Kurt who lived just outside of Newport. It could happen right?  
  
Ryan smiled as he saw that Chuck guy again, dancing in a corner with some girl. Luke looked over at him and frowned as they made their way out of the house.  
  
As soon as they stepped outside Ryan turned on the guy and pinned him against the white siding. "Charlie, you and me have been friends for how long?" Ryan growled into his ear.  
  
Chuck squirmed nervously. "Since forever Ry." His voice cracked as he spoke.  
  
"And you know that my sister and I are tight. Really tight, right?" Ryan's lips curled into a smirk as Chuck quickly nodded. "So you know if anything happened to Ally I would hold you responsible because you should be looking out for me and my sister."  
  
Chuck's eyes widened. "Ryan, you wouldn't want to hurt me. We're like brothers." The guy pleaded in Ryan's grasp, wriggling. Ryan's grip on his collar was too tight.  
  
"Yeah well she is my sister. Blood. She comes first. Spill. Where is she?"  
  
Chuck stared into Ryan's ice cold eyes. His gaze fell onto Luke and Seth, finding no sympathy. "Alright! Alright. Just let me go!" Ryan's hand fell to his sides. "Cellar. Kurt is throwing a little party in the basement. But you didn't hear it from me."  
  
Ryan's eyes flashed as he turned to signal they all should go to the backyard. They ran to the back and quickly jumped the fence. Ryan whipped open the big rotting wooden doors with ease and ran down the steps.  
  
"Kurt, I feel sick." A tiny moan from one of the darkened corners whined.  
  
"Shhh . . . You'll feel better soon. Drink this. It's for your tummy."  
  
"Ally?" Ryan said flipping on another light. Seth and Luke tip toed down the steps, looking into the room.  
  
The cement floors were dirty and the air around them was thick with smoke. Seth breathed in. It smelt like cigarettes and pot, not that he had ever really been around it. Even with a few lights on the room was dimly lit but he saw a few people in the room; a few girls, a few guys, and Ally lying on the floor, shading her face from the light.  
  
A guy standing beside her with mouse brown hair walked over to Ryan and smirked. "Well, well, well. It's little brother Atwood. Weren't you in juvie? Oh wait; you became a charity case didn't you? Got taken in by some Newport losers; right?"  
  
"Shut up Kurt." Ryan spat back at him. "Just let me get my sister and I won't mess up your face like last year."  
  
Kurt snorted. "That was a fluke. Besides I don't think Ally wants to go with you. She likes it just fine here."  
  
Ryan's eyes narrowed. "You and I both know Ally can't choose now. What are you passing out here? Roofies this time?"  
  
Kurt gritted his teeth. "I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout Atwood. Everyone knows I stopped dealing a long time ago."  
  
"Daddy? I want to go home." Allison murmured as her eyes fell closed.  
  
Seth pushed past some of the guys and knelt down beside her. His fingers brushed her short hair out of her eyes. His eyes looked at her body that lie in his arms; put into an unnatural sleep.  
  
Ryan's eyes moved back to Kurt who rolled his eyes at Seth. "Everyone knows you should mess with you're friend's family. It isn't right."  
  
Kurt's eyes flashed. "This isn't Newport Beach here. It's not black and white around here. It is only survival and not getting caught. I though you would know that Ryan."  
  
"Just leave his sister alone and we'll be gone." Luke said pushing Ryan out of the way frustrated.  
  
Kurt smirked and turned his back to them walking over to where Allison and Seth were. "Why would I do that? I kind of like her." Kurt's foot quickly connected with Seth's side; his steel toe smashing into Seth's ribcage.  
  
Ryan and Luke quickly ran to help Seth but were quickly stopped by Kurt's friends, or rather Ryan's old friends. Ryan's eyes traced over the faces of his friends, each like stone, unfeeling and uncaring.  
  
"A little privacy here."  
  
Some of the guys looked back at Kurt who was standing over Seth who was holding his middle, rocking back and forth. Their eyes moved back to Ryan knowing that Kurt would first beat Seth to a pulp then well, it would be Allison's turn. Their eyes lost their fire. The five guys smirked at Ryan and moved out of the way.  
  
Kurt's eyes widened as Ryan and Luke closed in on him. Seth slowly rose to his feet, his arms still around his middle. Allison lied a few feet away unmoving. He quickly scooped her into his arms. Red and blue light's flashed through the small dingy window. Sirens filled the air making stopping Ryan in his tracks. Luke quickly backed off.  
  
"Run!!!!!" A voice from upstairs screamed.  
  
Seth scrambled up the cement steps with Ryan and Luke on his heels. "At least no one got shot." He wheezed. 


	14. They're up to something

Seth looked back at Ryan who sat in the back of the Rover with Allison. He eyes immediately went back to the road in front of him. He swallowed nervously, unsure of how he was going to explain this to his mother. It wasn't like they could walk into the house with Allison unconscious in Ryan's arms and say, 'oh we just went to Chino to crash a party where Ally here was almost date raped.'  
  
He heard Ally shift positions in the back seat.  
  
Luke looked back at Ryan. "She's going to be ok, right?" Luke said filling the silence of the Range Rover.  
  
Seth heard Ryan sniff and readjusted the rear view mirror to watch him. Ryan's eyes glistened in the dim of the streetlights overhead. He hastily wiped his eyes with his sleeve.  
  
"Yeah, she'll be fine I think."  
  
Seth licked his lips. "How are you doing?" It was weird seeing Ryan like that.  
  
Ryan shrugged. "Ok." He laced his fingers with Allison's. "It just reminds me of Mexico and Marissa. All limp and not responding you know."  
  
"Seth?" His mother called as he walked into the house. "Seth that better be you!"  
  
"Yea, mom it's me, I'm home." He called out nervously.  
  
His mother walked into the foyer; her eyes scanning him angrily. "Where have you and Ryan been?"  
  
Seth took a deep breath. "I-max theatres again; someone thought Ryan was one of the people in the movie. He did have a striking resemblance to that guy." Seth said as he moved towards the stairs.  
  
Kirsten looked questioningly at Seth. "I don't believe you. What was the movie about?"  
  
Seth swallowed nervously. "What the movie was about . . . Some guy who went into the jungle with a chocolate bar, sneakers and a pocketknife and survived three months." Seth nodded and began to creep up the stairs.  
  
Kirsten's eyebrows went up. "And you took Luke with you?"  
  
"Luke?" Seth voice went up about three octaves. "Well after the shark week movie thing, we figured we should have someone to help out if the crowd goes crazy again."  
  
"And Allison; where is she?"  
  
"We picked her up on the way there and she fell asleep in the theatres." Seth explained away. "She's sleeping in the pool house with Ryan, where I will be sleeping because . . . we . . . are watching a James Bond marathon?"  
  
"Then why are you going upstairs?" Kirsten asked making Seth stop in the middle of the staircase.  
  
"Captain Oats!" Seth yelped the first thing that came to mind.  
  
Kirsten shook her head. "What does Captain Oats have anything to do with a James Bond marathon?"  
  
Seth bit his lip. "I promised Allison she could meet him." He nodded nervously. He felt like he was digging himself into a huge hole.  
  
"But Ally is asleep."  
  
Seth ran up the stairs and grabbed Captain Oats and ran down the stairs past his mother. "Stop asking questions mom! I feel like you don't trust me!"  
  
As Seth ran out the back door Kirsten shook her head. "What if I don't trust you?"  
  
Ryan sat on the couch looking at the ceiling. As his eyes fell towards his bed where Ally lie sleeping his mind reeled at the ideas of losing someone else he loved. First there was his dad, who left in the middle of the night. Then Trey was arrested, but it was mainly his fault that he never saw him. His mom was the hardest; just to watch her walk away from him. But if he had to live through the idea of Ally dying, it was kill him, inside out.  
  
"I made it!" Seth announced breaking Ryan out of his depressing thoughts.  
  
Ryan frowned. "As much as we all love the ever popular Captain Oats, what is he doing here?"  
  
Seth brought the plastic horse to his chest. "Captain Oats takes offence to that."  
  
"Why are we personifying a plastic horse that you have unusually named Captain Oats? Ryan asked; a smirk creeping onto his face.  
  
Seth sat Captain Oats onto the table closest to him. "Has someone been playing attention in English class?" Seth said mockingly. "I would have thought you would have been in la-la land seeing Marissa is in that class."  
  
Ryan began to smile, but was quickly interrupted by a panicked moan coming from his bed.  
  
Seth watched Ryan as he swooped over Ally. Biting his lip; he turned the TV on.  
  
Ryan turned to Seth looking confused.  
  
"I told my mom we were watching a James Bond marathon." Seth said shrugging. "Dad has been talking about it for a while so it was the first thing that came to mind."  
  
Ryan nodded and looked down at Ally she breathing had become calmer and smooth.  
  
"How long do the drugs usually last?" Seth asked as he turned the volume down.  
  
Ryan shrugged and walked over to the TV and sat on the floor with his back to the bed. "Depends on the strength and what was used and when she was given it."  
  
Seth quickly sat beside him. "Oh. Well give me a span here; ballpark figure."  
  
"Few hours to a day or so." Ryan replied in monotone looking back at the lump that was Ally.  
  
Seth ran his fingers through his curly hair biting his lip on how they would explain to his mom if she didn't wake up for a few days. Sure Ally was a growing teen, but he couldn't use that excuse for more than a couple hours.  
  
Marissa smiled as she walked to the pool house. The blinds were open this time and she saw a few bodies sprawled out across the floor. Seeing this time Ryan had company she figured he would be in a better mood than he was yesterday. The door opened smoothly and she quickly stepped over Seth's torso.  
  
She knelt down and kissed Ryan's cheek. "Ryan? Wake up; its 10:00"  
  
Ryan stirred and his eyes opened a crack. He moaned as the Californian sun streamed into his eyes. He quickly threw his arm over his eyes.  
  
Seth turned over, rolling into Marissa's heels, making him yelp in pain and rub his arm.  
  
"Those shoes are dangerous." He mumbled sleepily motioning at the pointy heel. "They could put an eye out."  
  
Marissa grinned and got up, walking over to the bed. "That's your fault for sleeping on the floor." She gently shook Allison's body. Getting no response she tried again. "Ally? Allison; wake up." Marissa began to panic. "Allison!? Ryan; something is wrong with Allison."  
  
Ryan immediately got up wrapping his arms around Marissa dragging her away from Allison's sleeping body. By now Marissa is in tears, confused, wondering why Ally wouldn't wake up.  
  
Ryan quickly sat Marissa down on the couch and knelt down in front of her. "It's ok. Ally is just sleeping something off right now."  
  
"Don't speak to me like a child Ryan! Tell me what is seriously going on!" Marissa yelled partially angrily; wiping away the tears that rolled down her face.  
  
Seth got up and sat beside her. "Shhhh . . . we need you to be quiet. We don't want my parents to find out." Seth's eyes looked toward the house that was probably sleeping obliviously.  
  
Marissa swallowed and looked over at Ally; nodding without a word, she griped Ryan's hands. "Ryan; tell me."  
  
Kirsten looked over at the pool house with her coffee in hand.  
  
"Good morning." Sandy whispered in her ear wrapping his arm around her waist and squeezing her tight.  
  
Kirsten smiled and mumbled a good morning back, without her eyes straying from the pool house that glittered in the morning sun.  
  
Sandy frowned. "What's wrong?"  
  
Kirsten turned around to face him; leaning against the marble countertops. "The kids are up to something."  
  
Sandy smiled and turned to the coffee pot; pouring himself a cup. "They're teens. It's in their nature to be up to something."  
  
"Ryan and Seth were hanging out with Luke last night at the I-max theatre." Kirsten stated.  
  
Sandy turned around with his face matching his wife's expression. "Luke; as in Marissa's ex-boyfriend?"  
  
Kirsten nodded.  
  
Sandy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That's weird. I thought Ryan and him could stand to be in the same room without someone shedding blood."  
  
Kirsten shrugged. "That's what I thought. And all of the kids slept in the pool house watching a James Bond marathon."  
  
Sandy smiled. "It's about time Seth sat through a movie like that." He took a sip of his coffee. "I was getting very bored of sci-fi movies."  
  
Kirsten frowned. "He brought Captain Oats with him."  
  
"To the I-max theatre?" Sandy said choking on his coffee.  
  
Kirsten shook her head. "No to the pool house. He never moves it from his room."  
  
"Good. I thought I might have to have a little talk with him." Sandy said taking a deep breath.  
  
"So she took drugs." Marissa said staring at Allison is shock.  
  
Seth shook his head. "Not exactly, someone slipped drugs into her drink."  
  
"We think." Ryan quickly added, agreeing with Seth's statement.  
  
Marissa nodded soberly. "So when will she wake up?"  
  
"We don't know." Ryan and Seth said together; their eyes locking for a second then shaking their heads.  
  
"And Kirsten doesn't know." Marissa said quietly processing it all. "We should move her."  
  
"What? Why?" Ryan said quickly sitting beside her.  
  
Marissa rolled her eyes at him. "Well Kirsten could walk in here at anytime and find her. We'll move her to Summer's house. Her dad and her step-mom are on a vacation in Venice or something. No adults to find her, and you guys could just say that Summer, Ally and I are have a girl's weekend."  
  
"Last time Ryan brought up a girl's day out she said something like she would rather carve something out of her earwax. I don't think she would be happy if we did that." Seth interjected.  
  
Marissa rolled her eyes at Seth this time. "Well she can't really argue right now, can she?" She said gesturing at Allison who turned over.  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
A/N: Ok so I'm getting more ideas as I go so this could be good. Now here's the deal, if you want me to keep going past this storyline of Allison waking up, tell me, if not, tell me. Anyways Review!  
  
REVIEW!!!!!!!!  
  
~Toodles 


	15. The Waiting Game

Seth bit his lip as he watched Ryan and Marissa sneak out of the pool house with Allison in Ryan's arms. It looked kind of comical; like a very corny, not well thought out escape. But the worst part was his job; which he got stuck with again. He got to inform his parents. The trust that he had built up his entire life by being a good little boy (as much as he hated to admit), sitting in his room reading comic books, was being flushed down the toilet in a matter of hours. Stupid Kurt and his stupid drugs at that stupid party that Allison had to stupidly go to, he mumbled under his breath as he slid open the glass door to the kitchen.  
  
"Seth; good morning." His mother said looking up from her paper; grinning knowingly.  
  
Seth narrowed his eyes. The tone of her voice wasn't good. "Mother. . ."  
  
Kirsten got up and looked out the window, her eyes following Ryan as he snuck out the gate. "Where is Ryan going with Allison in his arms asleep?" She asked suspiciously, turning back to Seth eying him.  
  
"Well . . ."  
  
Kirsten walked over to him and crossed her arms. "Don't lie to me Seth." She warned, staring him in the eyes.  
  
Seth grinned. "Marissa is taking her to Summer's house." It wasn't a lie. He was telling the truth, he was just withholding the fact that Allison had some sort of date rape drug in her system.  
  
"Why are you taking her to Summer's house when she is asleep though?"  
  
This was just getting too easy for him right now. "Well the last time we tried to get her to have a girl's day she said, and I quote, 'I would rather carve something out of my own earwax,' end quote." Seth smiled taking a breath. "So we kind of have to take her out of the house while she is asleep."  
  
Kirsten grinned. "Good. It's about time she was hanging out with girls. I was scared you were going to turn her into a mini you." Kirsten turned and walked over to the coffee pot. "Like you did with Ryan."  
  
Seth's jaw dropped. "I know I feel loved when . . ."  
  
His mother smiled and turned. "So what are you guys going to do while the girls have taken Allison hostage?"  
  
Seth shrugged. "Follow them."  
  
Kirsten loudly sat her mug on the countertop. "No you aren't!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You leave them alone. You guys will just distract Allison and . . ." Kirsten began to wave her arms dramatically. "And . . . She'll end up in an arcade or something."  
  
"So she bought it?" Marissa asked from the driver seat looking over at Seth in the passenger seat.  
  
"Yeah. Of course she did. But if she calls make it sound like you're in the mall or something and say that Allison is in the changing room or something." Seth said looking back at Ryan.  
  
Ryan smiled at him. "What did she say about us going with them?"  
  
Seth frowned. "She says we're distracting and we are to leave them alone after we get Allison out of the car."  
  
Ryan laughed. "I'm not distracting. You're distracting."  
  
"I am not!" Seth yelled spinning around in his seat.  
  
"You're BOTH distracting!" Marissa yelled grabbing Seth by his collar and sitting him the right way in the seat. "Can I drive without getting into an accident or getting pulled over?"  
  
Summer ran out of her house. Cohen wasn't supposed to be at her house. If he knew so much about her, didn't he know that Holly's best friend's sister's best friend lived across the street and her popularity points would seriously go down within the hour?  
  
"Cohen! What the hell are you doing here?" she yelled at him grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him behind a hedge, you know, just in case that Holly's best friend's sister's best friend was looking out her window.  
  
Seth smirked. "If you wanted me alone you could just ask."  
  
Summer shot him a death glare. "The only time they I would want you alone would be if I were hacking your limbs off with a. . ." she stopped and shook her head.  
  
"Rage blackouts." They said together.  
  
"Sorry." Summer mumbled, suddenly turning a red color. "What are you doing here though?"  
  
Seth bit his lip. "Ok well we kind of have to hide Allison somewhere and your place was the only one without parents that could find her."  
  
Summer's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why exactly do you need to hide her?"  
  
"Ohmigod! What did you to her Cohen?!" Summer yelled slapping Seth's arm and walking over to the couch where Ally lie curled into a ball. Ryan grinned and chuckled under his breath and quickly stopped once Marissa and Summer glared at him.  
  
Seth's jaw dropped and rubbed his arm. "What?! You honestly think that I would be able to get date rape drugs?"  
  
Summer stood up and angrily put her hands on her hips. "You were the one who brought Donnie to Holly's party."  
  
Ryan nodded, for once agreeing with Summer. "She's got you there Seth."  
  
"You were the one who was great friends with him. Besides, Donnie has nothing to do with her." Seth said defending himself and pointing at Allison, who was obliviously sleeping through their discussion. "One of Ryan's old friends from Chino did that to her, so don't even try to blame this one on me."  
  
"Good going Chino!" Summer said stomping into the hall.  
  
"Hey I didn't do anything either!" Ryan yelled back. "She went after I told her not to!"  
  
Summer came back with a pillow and a light sheet. "Ryan; look at her. She's your little sister. Little sisters do the exact opposite to what you tell them."  
  
Marissa frowned. "How do you know that? You're an only child."  
  
Summer rolled her eyes as she tucked the white sheet around Allison. "Remember that month when my dad cut off my credit card because I maxed it out?" Marissa nodded and Summer continued. "Well how do you think I bought that specialty made purse for that one charity event my step-mother made me go to?"  
  
Marissa shrugged. "A gift?"  
  
Summer rolled her eyes again. "Obviously not. I babysat for like that entire month. Three girls; eight, nine and ten."  
  
"I didn't know you babysat." Marissa giggled  
  
Seth blushed. "I did."  
  
Everyone's gaze fell on Seth.  
  
"That's creepy Cohen." Summer said shivering.  
  
Summer sighed and looked at her watch. "Guys it's six."  
  
Seth shrugged and handed Ryan the new Legion that he had just ran out to buy. "So. . ."  
  
"Its almost dinner and Allison hasn't woke up yet."  
  
"Awww. . . Summer, I didn't know you cared." Seth said in a mocking tone, pouting.  
  
Summer rolled her eyes. "Cohen I mean I'm hungry and I want to know when you guys will leave."  
  
Ryan snickered and went back to Legion once Seth threatened to take it away.  
  
Marissa smiled. "Well why don't we order pizza and we all just hang out here until later."  
  
"Isn't that what we have been doing?" Summer whined. Marissa pouted at her making Summer throw her arms up in defeat. "Fine! Cohen, go get the phone!"  
  
Cohen sat up and frowned. "Why do I have to go get it? It's your house."  
  
Summer rolled her eyes. "My toes are drying." She wiggled her toes just to put more emphasis on it.  
  
"Get Ryan to."  
  
Summer smirked. "He might burn down my house."  
  
"Ryan?" a weak voice from behind Summer croaked groggily making her jump up and scream.  
  
Ryan dropped the book and immediately sat on the edge of the couch. He brushed her short brown hair out of her squinting eyes. "Hey, you're awake." He said smiling.  
  
"Where am I?" she said rubbing her temples.  
  
Marissa walked over to the couch and took Ryan's hand smiling happily. "You're at Summer's. We didn't want to worry the Cohen's.  
  
Allison began to sit up and immediately snuck back down. "I don't feel so great right now."  
  
Ryan nodded. "Yeah you're going to feel funny for a little while." He bit his lip and looked over at Seth. "Allison what's the last thing you remember?"  
  
Allison shrugged and stretched. "Um. . . kissing Seth then arguing with you."  
  
Marissa and Summer's jaws dropped. "You kissed Ally!" They yelled at Seth who began backing up away from them.  
  
"Wait no . . . going to the pier and Charlie picking me up. We went to a party and I saw Kurt." Ally said correcting herself.  
  
Ryan nodded solemnly. "Did you drink anything?"  
  
Allison shrugged. "A soda; maybe. Kurt got it for me I think." Allison sighed. "Ryan I'm really sleepy. Can I go to sleep now?"  
  
Before Ryan got to answer Ally was already asleep. "Come on Seth, let's go." Ryan quickly scooped up Allison and began to walk to the door. "Marissa; are you staying here or do you want a ride back?"  
  
"I'll stay its ok." Marissa whispered watching him walk out the front door.  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
*  
  
~  
  
A/N: Hmmm . . . I might be drawing to a close soon. Now it's up to you. I could either finish this up, with the whole Allison waking up etc. etc. etc. and keep going, or I could just make a sequel. What do you think? By the way (free advertising cool!) check out my one part-er "Cheaters". It's one of the few Ryan/Summer fics. Please? *pouts* Anyways.. As always. . . REVIEW!!  
  
~Toodles 


	16. It's about Time

"Here let me take her."  
  
Ryan looked skeptically at Seth who held his arms out as the reached the front stoop. Ryan liked Allison in his arms. He could feel her soft breath and her tired movements; he knew she was alive. To tell the truth he didn't want her to go to the guest . . . her room. He wanted make sure she stayed that way. .  
  
Seth dropped his arms. "Ryan, I get it, you want to do the big brother thing and make sure she's ok." He stated nodding. "The parents will be even more suspicious if she stays in the pool house again."  
  
His eyes drifted down onto the face of Allison as he handed her over to Seth carefully, knowing that one false move could wake her from her needed sleep. He bit his lip as he watched Seth take her weight.  
  
"I want to stay with her, in case she needs anything." Ryan said opening the front door and following Seth in.  
  
Seth rolled his eyes. "Last night you took the duty of watching her. You are tired, brooding, and irritable. You didn't even scoff at my jokes throughout the day. You sleep, I watch." Seth began to walk up the stairs, shifting Allison's weight uneasily. He turned noticing Ryan was still at the foot of the stairs. "Away with you; to the pool house; go on; shoo!"  
  
Seth quickly made it to the top of the stairs silently.  
  
"Seth? Is that you and Ryan?"  
  
Seth bit his lip. Ok, this was not going to look good. He was holding Allison in his arms asleep and his dad was going to. . . Wait. . . Allison was just asleep. If his dad did anything to try to wake her, it wouldn't matter, she would just wake up. She might be a little groggy but he could just explain that she needed her beauty sleep, she was a teen, she wasn't a morning person, etc. etc. etc.  
  
"Yeah it's me." Seth responded in a whisper as his father immerged from the master bedroom.  
  
A relieved smile fell across Sandy's face. "Good, your mother wouldn't go to sleep until you got home." Sandy said jokingly, completely ignoring the fact that his son was holding a teenage girl in his arms, completely asleep.  
  
Seth nodded. "Sorry. Marissa called us to come pick up Alli."  
  
"Marissa didn't call you." Sandy said shaking his head, staring his son in the eyes.  
  
Seth swallowed nervously. "She didn't?"  
  
"You were with them the entire time even though your mother specifically told you to leave the girls alone while they were shopping." Sandy replied bored. "You forgot your cell phone on the charger." Sandy shrugged.  
  
Seth breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, you caught us dad. But we let them shop. Don't worry."  
  
Sandy smirked. "Shopping really must have tired Allison out. Here." He quickly opened the guest room door that had been reassigned to his new 'daughter'. He wasn't quite sure what she was exactly.  
  
Seth scurried into the room and laid Allison onto the bed, stirring her from a light sleep.  
  
"Seth?" Allison whispered yawning.  
  
Seth began to pull the covers out from beneath her, which turned out to be a harder job than he had expected. "Yeah. Go back to sleep."  
  
Allison nodded, but fought sleep off as long as she could. "Tell Ryan," she yawned; cuddling beneath the covers, "I'm sorry," she yawned again, "for everything."  
  
Seth quickly stood up. "Tell him in the morning." He brushed her hair out of her eyes and turned to go to his room so he could change and watch her until Ryan stuck out the pool house to watch her also.  
  
"Seth." His father whispered catching his arm as her stepped out into the hall.  
  
"Yea dad?" Seth said swallowing the lump in his throat that didn't seem to be getting any smaller.  
  
"I'm glad you're watching out for Allison. It's nice to see you trying to make her part of the family." Sandy said, patting his son's shoulder and turning back to go to his own room.  
  
Seth let go of the breath he had no idea he was holding. He didn't like keeping this secret, but he knew it was for their own good.  
  
Kirsten woke up with a start the next morning gasping. She had the most awful dream. She tossed on a silky robe and flew down the hall turning to Ally's room. It was one of those dreams where you had to make sure that everyone that was in it was actually ok, and in their bed. She whipped open the door and stared into the stark white room. She smiled and closed the door gently.  
  
As she walked down the stairs she smiled at the picture in her mind. Seth sleeping in the desk chair and was slowly, but surely falling off. Allison sleeping obliviously in the bed and Ryan sleeping on the floor leaning against the bed frame. It was so cute. She couldn't bare to wake them.  
  
She was just glad that the dream wasn't true. It was probably the fact that she watched Ryan carry Allison's unmoving body to the driveway. But never again did she ever want to see Allison's pale corpse in a coffin being set into the ground six feet under. As she reached the bottom step she turned around. She had to see them again. Besides, it was 10 a.m.; they should be up by now.  
  
So she crept up the stairs again opening the door that creaked slightly mainly because of the fact that they barely ever used it, but she smiled as she remembered that would be changing. She quietly tip toed around Seth, knowing that the slightest noise could wake him up. She always woke Seth up last, mainly because he wasn't his usual sarcastic joyful self if he didn't have the right amount of hours of sleep, which always confused her. She shook Ryan's shoulder lightly.  
  
He groaned and squinted up at her. "Hey." He mumbled rubbing his eyes. "Morning; already?"  
  
"Uh huh." She whispered back sitting on the edge of the bed and looking over at Allison. She sighed. It had been a dream of hers to have a daughter. She loved Seth to death and she would do anything for him, but it always seems a little girl, when she dreams of her future family, her child is a girl. She touched Allison gingerly. "Ally; wake up."  
  
Allison moaned and rolled over pulling the covers over her head.  
  
Ryan jumped up and sat beside Kirsten blocking her from trying to wake her again. "Don't!" He yell-whispered. "Allison said she was really tired from shopping with Summer and Marissa and she will need her sleep." Ryan swallowed hoping he didn't say that too quickly.  
  
"Where are the bags anyways?" Kirsten said shrugging it off and looking around the room suspiciously. "I wanted to see what Marissa and Summer got her into. I was tired of seeing her in your sweaters." Kirsten stopped and spun around to face him. "Not that there isn't anything wrong with your clothes."  
  
"Bags?" Ryan said feeling the blood rush to his head.  
  
Kirsten nodded. "Yes, bags. When you buy clothes they usually come in bags. Did she put them away already?"  
  
"Oh!" Ryan exclaimed making Seth jump. "The bags; there isn't any."  
  
Seth moaned and frowned at Ryan. "I'm going back to bed." He said getting off the chair and exiting the room.  
  
Kirsten looked shocked. "Allison went to the mall with two Newport girls and didn't come back with anything?"  
  
Ryan swallowed nervously. "She fought them. . . really. . . hard. Marissa and Summer are planning on trying again soon in a more relaxed setting." Ryan couldn't believe he came up with that explanation. He almost believed it himself.  
  
Kirsten shook her head. "That sounds like Allison. But she is going to need new clothes before we get her into school. Which reminds me; I have to go make some calls. I'll be downstairs, if you need me." Kirsten smiled and left the room.  
  
Allison slowly rolled over and rubbed her eyes. "I didn't go to the mall." She croaked.  
  
Ryan spun around. "I know, but from now on that's what happened. The Cohen's can't know about the party ok? Sandy will want to go after Kurt and they will find out about me fighting and they won't like the fact that I brought Luke and Seth into a dangerous situation and then hid it from them ok?"  
  
Ryan sat down onto the bed next to her as she began to speak groggily. "I'm sorry. I'm messing everything up here." She looked down at her hands. "I was testing everyone I guess."  
  
Ryan frowned. "Testing?"  
  
"Yeah. I wanted to see how far I could push them before they would kick me out like my mom did. I figured no one really wanted me you know? And Kurt, well, he reminded me of home and I wanted to feel loved I guess."  
  
Smiling he slid under the covers and pulled her into a hug. "You are loved. And believe me; you don't have to test the Cohen's. I burnt down a house, got into dozens of fights, went to Mexico and my girlfriend almost overdosed and they haven't kicked me out yet."  
  
"Then why do we have to hide the party thing?" She replied; squeezing him back.  
  
Ryan scoffed. "As an Atwood, we always seem to cause worry in this household. How about we not worry them this time?"  
  
Allison nodded. "Kay." She pulled out of the hug and stared into his sea blue eyes. "I'm lucky to have you; you realize that?"  
  
Ryan grinned wrapped an arm around her.  
  
"It took you long enough."  
  
A/N: OK, I could end it here and start a sequel, or I can keep going under this title. What do you want? This is up to you guys my readers and reviewers. If you are to review any chapter this is the ONE. Tell me YOUR opinion. Come on!  
  
REVIEW! The button won't bite!  
  
~Toodles! 


End file.
